Security expert Matt Pottinger praises Taiwan’s communications environment
By Chen Yun and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writer
Foundation for Defense of Democracies China Program chair Matt Pottinger yesterday praised Taiwan for taking “creative and resilient” steps to maintain a secure communications environment.
He made the comment during a meeting with President William Lai (賴清德) at the Presidential Office in Taipei, his fourth visit since Lai took office in 2024.
Lai thanked the foundation for “taking concrete action to support Taiwan.”
Foundation for Defense of Democracies China Program chair Matt Pottinger, left, gifts President William Lai a baseball bat that reads “In defense of a free and open Indo-Pacific” at the Presidential Office in Taipei yesterday.
Photo courtesy of the Presidential Office
He also referred to the Resilient Taiwan for Sustainable Democracy International Forum, held on Saturday last week by the Whole-of-Society Defense Resilience Committee for the second consecutive year.
More than 500 experts and guests from Taiwan and abroad attended the forum, demonstrating “the spirit of solidarity and cooperation among democratic partners,” Lai said.
“When authoritarianism seeks to spread fear, democratic societies should spread confidence through resilience,” he said.
Lai thanked Pottinger for delivering the forum’s closing keynote, during which he said that “peace through strength is essential to maintaining Taiwan’s freedom and prosperity.”
Pottinger’s remarks were in line with Taiwan’s efforts to build resilience, Lai said, adding that “peace depends on strength, strength depends on resilience and resilience depends on unity.”
The delegation also helped conduct a tabletop exercise last week focused on bolstering communications resilience, which was extremely helpful, he said.
“Moving forward, Taiwan will continue to build diverse, decentralized communications systems with backup capabilities,” Lai said.
Pottinger, who previously served as US deputy national security adviser, thanked Lai for receiving the delegation and wished those present a happy Mid-Autumn Festival.
The delegation saw how Taiwan’s training has become more closely aligned with real-world conditions, Pottinger said, adding that practical resilience training involving a growing share of the population was a good way to build confidence and ultimately improve deterrence.
Cross-party support has also helped pass several defense budgets, he added.
The delegation was “deeply impressed by the creative and resilient steps the Taiwan team took to maintain a secure communications environment,” Pottinger said, adding that he looked forward to discussing more issues with Lai.
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