Kuomintang Taichung mayoral candidate Chiang Chi-chen has made the defence industry the central plank of his campaign, a positive signal for AIDC employees and Taichung's precision machinery supply chain.

• Chiang argues that new basic trainer aircraft should be built domestically as a priority, with AIDC taking the lead in keeping orders, technology and jobs in Taiwan.
• He is calling on the government to establish an F-16 maintenance centre for Asia at AIDC, noting that Taiwan has more than 200 F-16s and could take on regional maintenance work and international cooperation business.
• The unmanned vehicles act has already been passed; the next steps are budget allocation and opening up testing sites, covering drones, unmanned vessels, driverless vehicles and humanoid robots.
• He wants to set up an "AI Empowerment Academy", in which government, industry and universities would jointly train workers already in employment, with skills certification tied to pay rises.

Outlook: Defence self-sufficiency and the drone industry will be the main battleground in the Taichung election, and the procurement method for the basic trainer aircraft is the key decision ahead.