Christchurch: The Taipei Aerospace and Defence Exhibition, TADTE for short, opened its doors on September 18 to promote the latest Taiwanese defence products and to showcase recent acquisitions. The event came as Taiwan considers the best way forward to counter aggressive Chinese manoeuvres, which analysts say are designed to soften the island for an eventual confrontation.
Beijing is clear about its ambitions. Defence Minister Dong Jun told an audience of international military officials at the Beijing Xiangshan Forum this week that the “restoration” of Taiwan to China “is an integral part of the post-war international order.” Dong warned China would “never allow any separatist attempts for Taiwan independence to succeed,” and that it would thwart “any external military interference.”
Current Taiwanese thinking is that asymmetric weapons – ones that do not cost too much to buy but which exact a heavy price on the enemy – are the best way for Taipei to deter a Chinese invasion. And such systems were prevalent at TADTE 2025. In fact, the number of exhibitors at the show nearly doubled to 490 compared to just two years ago. Furthermore, there were 51 brand new products on display.
Among them were weapons recently acquired from the US, such as an M1A2T Abrams tank and HIMARS rocket launcher sitting side-by-side. To date, Taiwan has received 80 of 108 Abrams, and 11 of 29 HIMARS.
American companies, of which more than 40 were exhibiting at TADTE 2025, are supplying smaller asymmetric systems too. One example is AeroVironment and its Switchblade 300 loitering munition.
To diversify its arms sources, Taiwan’s National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST) signed a slew of agreements on the opening day of TADTE 2025. Among them were deals involving the Overwatch Interceptor counter-drone missiles from AirShare in Canada and Dive-LD underwater drones from Anduril Industries.
