ABSTRACT
This chapter compares and contrasts the various readjustment activities of several second-tier states as they wrestle with the problems of armaments production in the post-Cold War era. Globalisation includes ad hoc teaming arrangements to co-develop or co-produce armaments, establishing international joint-venture companies, and cross-border mergers and acquisitions. However, these attempts at workforce rationalisation may not be sufficient to deal with long-term over-capacities and the general lack of work in Taiwan's defence sector. In addition, most of Taiwan's commercial aircraft work remains relatively minor. Aerospace Industry Development Corporation (AIDC) and other Taiwanese aerospace companies are supplying Western manufacturers with parts and components for commercial aircraft. Chung Shan Institute for Science and Technology (CSIST) has pressured Taipei to underwrite several new domestic missile and other military programmes, mainly as a means of preserving jobs, and is reportedly transferring some missile-component production to AIDC, in an effort to increase work at the latter's under-utilised aviation facilities.
