Cathy Fang, Policy Analyst at the Research Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET), recently participated in two Taiwan–Europe exchange events, where she shared analysis on Taiwan–Europe drone cooperation, democratic supply-chain resilience, and Taiwan’s progress in strengthening satellite communications backup capabilities. She also exchanged views with European political youth representatives, as well as French and Taiwanese experts in space, security, and technology policy.
The two events included a workshop organized by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom (FNF) for youth representatives from the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats and Germany’s Young Liberals, as well as the “Science Bubble Tea” event hosted by the French Office in Taipei. The FNF workshop featured Thung-Hong Lin, Research Fellow at the Institute of Sociology, Academia Sinica, and Dr. Chao-Nien Huang, Associate Professor and Director of the Graduate Institute of Development Studies at National Chengchi University. The “Science Bubble Tea” event brought together Xavier Pasco, Director of the Fondation pour la recherche stratégique (Foundation for Strategic Research, FRS), and Frank Lo, Director of the Office of International Cooperation at the Taiwan Space Agency (TASA).
On June 11, Fang participated in the FNF workshop as a panelist in the session “Geopolitics and Geoeconomics: Countering Authoritarian Threats in the Indo-Pacific.” Speaking on Taiwan’s drone industry development and democratic supply-chain cooperation, she analyzed Taiwan’s latest progress in procurement, exports, certification, and technology cooperation. She emphasized that Taiwan–Europe drone cooperation is not merely an industrial issue, but a strategic agenda closely linked to the shared security interests of the Indo-Pacific and Europe.
Fang noted that Taiwan’s drone industry has expanded rapidly in recent years, with particularly strong export growth. Taiwan exported approximately 123,000 drones in 2025, while exports in the first quarter of 2026 alone reached around 139,000 units. Many of these systems were shipped to Ukraine through Central and Eastern European countries, including Poland and the Czech Republic. This trend demonstrates Taiwan’s growing role in democratic drone supply chains and highlights Central and Eastern Europe as an important node for Taiwan–Europe drone cooperation.
At the same time, Fang pointed out that Taiwan still faces several structural constraints in scaling production and deepening its participation in international markets. These include uncertainty over the scale and timeline of domestic procurement, limited access to foreign government procurement channels, continued reliance on foreign technologies for certain critical components, and remaining dependencies on Chinese sources for products such as battery cells and motors. She stressed that for Taiwan’s drone industry to become part of a democratic “non-red supply chain,” Taiwan must strengthen domestic procurement demand, accelerate the localization of critical components, align with international certification frameworks, and establish more robust cooperation mechanisms with European partners.
Fang further emphasized that security in the Taiwan Strait is directly connected to Europe’s economic security. Citing estimates from Bloomberg Economics, she noted that a worst-case conflict between the United States and China over Taiwan could impose an estimated US$2 trillion shock on the EU economy in the first year, with Germany’s economy potentially contracting by around 14 percent and Italy, Spain, and France also facing significant disruption. As drones become increasingly important to Taiwan’s asymmetric defense and resilience strategy, Fang argued that Europe should pay closer attention to Taiwan’s drone industry and include Taiwan in discussions on European defense industrial cooperation and supply-chain resilience.
Regarding EU policy developments, Fang observed that the EU’s Defence Readiness Roadmap to 2030, released in October 2025, emphasizes defense industrial dialogues with Indo-Pacific partners such as Japan and India, but does not yet explicitly include Taiwan. However, the European Parliament report Drones and New Systems of Warfare: Adapting the EU to Today’s Security Challenges, published in January 2026, calls for strengthening the EU’s security and defense cooperation with Indo-Pacific partners, including Taiwan, particularly in drone technology and related industries. Fang noted that this reflects growing recognition within Europe of Taiwan’s role in drone technology and supply-chain resilience, but such recognition must be translated into concrete cooperation through more institutionalized policy frameworks.
In this context, Fang drew on the DSET report The Invisible “Drone Wall”: Taiwan’s Quiet Support for Europe’s Non-Red Drone Supply Chain to propose five policy recommendations: first, expand government procurement of Taiwan-made complete drone systems to establish stable demand and production capacity; second, institutionalize cooperation on critical components within trusted supply-chain frameworks; third, promote joint research, development, and production between Taiwan and European partners; fourth, position Taiwan as a like-minded partner in drone supply-chain resilience; and fifth, advance cooperation based on the comparative advantages of different European regions, with Central and Eastern Europe serving as a base for testing, validation, and local assembly, and Western Europe focusing on scalable dual-use technologies.
On June 17, Fang was also invited to participate in the “Science Bubble Tea” event hosted by the French Office in Taipei. This edition focused on the geopolitics of space and brought together French and Taiwanese experts, including Xavier Pasco, Director of FRS, and Frank Lo, Director of the Office of International Cooperation at TASA, to discuss space competition, international cooperation, and technology security. Fang shared her analysis on the role of satellite communications in Taiwan’s digital resilience and crisis response, and outlined Taiwan’s recent progress in low-Earth orbit satellite services, backup communications, and international cooperation.
Fang stated that Taiwan’s high-risk geopolitical environment makes submarine cables, mobile networks, and critical infrastructure vulnerable to disruption during natural disasters, gray-zone contingencies, or wartime scenarios. Satellite communications, therefore, should not be viewed as a replacement for existing communications networks, but rather as a critical backup system for government command and control, emergency response, critical infrastructure, and essential public services during submarine cable disruptions, major disasters, or crises.
She noted that OneWeb’s low-Earth orbit satellite service has obtained exclusive agency rights and commercial authorization in Taiwan through Chunghwa Telecom, with signal coverage across the island. The service is primarily positioned as a communications backup during submarine cable disruptions and natural disasters, and is currently targeted at government agencies, multinational corporations, and specialized application scenarios. As a European satellite service provider, OneWeb’s cooperation with a Taiwanese telecommunications operator also represents an important example of Taiwan–Europe collaboration in space and communications resilience.
Fang further explained that Taiwan’s satellite communications resilience remains in a gradual expansion phase. Beyond increasing terminal deployment and bandwidth capacity, Taiwan will need to establish clearer wartime and disaster-response demand assessments, cross-ministerial command and maintenance mechanisms, regular exercise programs, and more stable, diversified, and trusted partnerships with international satellite service providers. She emphasized that satellite communications should be understood as part of Taiwan’s broader digital resilience and democratic defense capabilities, rather than as a standalone technology procurement issue.
DSET stated that drones and satellite communications are both critical emerging technologies for Taiwan as it responds to authoritarian threats and complex security challenges. Drones are closely linked to Taiwan’s asymmetric defense, industrial autonomy, and democratic supply chains, while satellite communications are essential for maintaining connectivity, government response, and social resilience during crises. DSET will continue to monitor Taiwan’s cooperation with like-minded partners in unmanned systems, space communications, critical technology supply chains, and economic security, and will provide policy recommendations to help Taiwan deepen international partnerships and strengthen security resilience.
