Drone academy advancing, MOFA says

READY FOR TAKEOFF: Taiwan could start training up to 30 drone pilots locally from Palau, the Marshall Islands or Tuvalu late this year or early next year, an official said

• By Lee I-chia / Staff reporter

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The privately funded Global UAV Academy (GUAVA) is to be registered as a juridical person next week and its offices are to be set up before the end of this year, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday.

The ministry is assisting in the establishment of GUAVA, which aims to help Taiwan’s diplomatic allies build drone resilience, with the initial phase focusing on pilot training, MOFA said in a policy report submitted to the Legislative Yuan before it starts its next session on Sept. 29.

As the ministry’s drone collaboration with like-minded countries needs to go through non-governmental channels, MOFA is assisting in GUAVA’s establishment, said Department of NGO International Affairs Director-General Chiang Zhen-wei (江振瑋), who is head of the ministry’s drone diplomacy task force.

Soldiers operate a drone in an undated photograph.

Photo: Fang Wei-li, Taipei Times

“GUAVA is an incorporated foundation and has been granted an establishment permit, so the juridical person registration is planned for next week,” he said.

Management personnel would be recommended and elected by the private sector, not designated by the ministry or the Industrial Technology Research Institute, he said.

GUAVA is to set up its offices in Taipei and Chiayi County before the end of this year, while the opening of overseas offices would depend on the needs of countries working with the organization, Chiang said.

The focus of GUAVA in its first phase would be training drone pilots, the report said.

Asked to elaborate, Chiang said that during this year’s Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting, the government signed memoranda of understanding with Palau, the Marshall Islands and Tuvalu, and Taiwan plans to begin training pilots starting with the Pacific allies from late this year or early next year.

It is estimated that the academy can train up to 30 pilots in Taiwan at the same time, he said.

They can serve as seed teachers assisting in their countries’ talent cultivation after completing training, he added.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) began promoting “drone diplomacy,” a spin on the concept of “chip diplomacy,” and leveraging Taiwan’s strengths in key industries to enhance its diplomatic influence, last year. The ministry formed a drone diplomacy task force in October last year.

Separately, Lin yesterday confirmed that the ministry is preparing to open a representative office in Cebu, Philippines.

The office, which would be Taiwan’s second in the country after Manila, would serve travelers and businesspeople in central Philippines, he said in a radio interview following a Nikkei Asia report on the new office published on Monday.

He did not say when the Cebu office would open.

Filipinos visited Taiwan about 600,000 times last year, while visa-free access has also encouraged more Taiwanese to travel to the country, Lin said.

He dismissed reports that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), who is expected to meet with US President Donald Trump during a visit to the US on Thursday next week, had asked Washington to refrain from approving a second round of arms sales to Taiwan before the summit.

The reports were part of Beijing’s cognitive warfare efforts, Lin said, adding that China is attempting to create the impression that Trump would withhold arms sales to Taiwan out of concern for Xi’s visit.

With only days remaining before the meeting, any arms sales package for Taiwan would still have to go through the US congressional review process and remains under consideration, he said.