The Biden administration recently nominated Heidi Shyu (徐若冰), a 67-year-old Chinese-American scientist, as deputy secretary of research and engineering at the U.S. Department of Defense, Defense News reported Wednesday.
If approved, Heidi Shyu would become the highest-ranking Asian-American official in Pentagon history. More worryingly, Heidi Shyu birth in Taiwan and his responsibility for US arms sales to Taiwan has touched the island’s euphoria, with some even speculating that the Biden administration’s move is a “show of support” for Taiwan.
Heidi Shyu holds a master’s degree in mathematics from the University of Toronto in Canada and a master’s degree in systems science/electrical engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles, and is also a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the report said. Heidi Shyu has long served in the U.S. military industry and the military sector, and has extensive experience in leading scientific and technological research and development and management.
In particular, she has worked for many years at Raytheon, a well-known U.S. arms giant, where she oversaw Raytheon’s Electromagnetic Systems Laboratory and is the F-35 Stealth Fighter Integrated Radar/Electronic Warfare Sensor Program Director, known as the F-35 “Mother of Radar.” She is also responsible for overseeing the company’s drone development program and has served as Raytheon’s vice president of technology and research and development.
At the same time, Heidi Shyu also has a very distinguished resume in the U.S. military. As a civilian officer at the Pentagon, she served on the Air Force’s Scientific Advisory Board and served as chairman for five years. The committee provides professional consulting services for the development of U.S. Air Force technical equipment, and the top U.S. scientists who can enter the committee.
During the Obama administration, Heidi Shyu also served as assistant secretary of procurement, logistics, and science and technology at the U.S. Army from September 2012 to January 2016, the first person to do so in the Army’s equipment research and procurement at the time. It can be said that Heidi Shyu is very professional in the development of army and air force equipment.
Judging by Heidi Shyu’s rich experience and academic background, Biden’s choice of her as the Pentagon’s undersecretary for research and engineering was a deliberate result. Defense News believes that because the U.S. military is still heavily using fighter warships from the Cold War era as the main battle platform, the Pentagon believes that this is a strong proof that the U.S. military is “weak” and unable to win “big country competition”, so in high-tech research and development and procurement of new equipment spare no effort.
The Biden administration has continued the Trump administration’s policy of increasing investment in military research and development, and is aggressively developing unmanned combat platforms, hypersonic weapons, and actively laying out cyberspace and space-based forces.
Heidi Shyu scientific and technological background is very much in line with the U.S. military’s vision for a new generation of high-tech weapons in the future.
In addition, women and Asians are unique conditions. The Biden administration’s nomination represents “political correctness” in American politics today.
According to a series of nominations from the Biden administration, there will be at least four women in key Pentagon positions, including Catherine Hicks, the current Pentagon’s second-in-command, Deputy Secretary of Defense, Kristen Worms, who nominated Army Secretary, and Suzanne Bloom, director of the Pentagon’s Office of Cost Assessment and Project Review.
Singapore’s “Joint Morning Post” 28 noted that Heidi Shyu was born in Taiwan, 10 years old moved to the United States. This makes some people on the island feel “extremely excited”. Heidi Shyu grandfather, Xu Kangliang, was a lieutenant general in the Taiwan Air Force and was the “deputy commander-in-chief” of the Taiwan Air Force, Taiwan media said Tuesday.
Heidi Shyu, who previously handled U.S. arms sales to Taiwan while serving at the Pentagon, is said to be “quite familiar and friendly.” Therefore, the DPP “legislative committee” Zhao Tianlin 28 excitedly declared that this is the Biden administration “to some extent more strong support for Taiwan”, “in the future we in military cooperation, I believe Heidi Shyu can certainly provide a lot of Taiwan’s perspective needs”, “such a personnel release, to some extent, is a great encouragement to Taiwan.”
Some commentators believe that from the current Biden administration’s strategy toward China, has not broken through the Trump administration’s comprehensive siege of the road, especially in the military continue to stir sensitive nerves, and on the Taiwan issue continue to create trouble, in order to “borrow Taiwan-based China.” Biden’s choice of Heidi Shyu, with a Taiwanese background, as deputy defense secretary at this point will certainly give the outside world room to imagine future U.S.-Taiwan military links.
But the current Biden administration has only recently come to power, the future direction of Sino-US relations there are still variables, Taiwan is only the U. S. government’s “pawns.” Once the U.S. realizes that the piece has been overused and touched on the global strategic layout of the U.S., Even if Heidi Shyu becomes the Pentagon’s number one, it won’t play much of a role in the U.S.-Taiwan military collusion.
