
WarRoom Battleground EP 806: Making A Stand Against The CCP: A Sit Down With Taiwan's Ambassador ...
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Steve Bannon
This is the primal scream of a dying regime. Pray for our enemies because we're going medieval on these people.
John Solomon
You're just not going to free shot all these networks lying about the people. The people have had a belly full of it. I know you don't like hearing that.
Steve Bannon
I know you try to do everything in the world to stop that, but.
John Solomon
You'Re not going to stop it.
Steve Bannon
It's going to happen.
Ambassador Yueh
And where do people like that go.
Steve Bannon
To share the big lie?
Ambassador Yueh
MAGA MEDIA I wish in my soul.
Steve Bannon
I wish that any of these people had a conscience.
John Solomon
Ask yourself, what is my task and what is my purpose? If that answer is to save my country, this country will be saved. War Room here's your host, Stephen K. Band.
Steve Bannon
It's Thursday, the 10th of July, year of our Lord 2025. Thank you for sticking around for the 6th. I want to thank Natalie and all the team down at Tampa for doing the five o'. Clock. We'll be live in Tampa at Charlie Kirk's Student Action Summit all day Friday, Saturday and Sunday. So see you down there. I'm so honored to have Ambassador Yueh from the Republic of Taiwan or as refer to it in the war room. The Republic of China. 47 years ago this month, a young, I think it was an incident Lieutenant JG on a Navy destroyer was pulling into one of my favorite places, Taiwan, to go to Taipei. We pull into Kaohsiung, which is the great harbor, one of the many great harbors in Taiwan. A great love and affinity for the people in Taiwan.
Taiwanese Official
Thank you.
Steve Bannon
The reason I'm so honored that you joined us today. We have been focusing on the kinetic part of the third world war. We say we're already in 2 million casualties. Gaza, Yemen, Ukraine, a million casualties on each side. And our focus has been to say with the hemispheric strategy of the United States, the geostrategic pivot for the United States, really the Central Pacific, the three island chain, that Taiwan is more important than ever strategically. And also with the advanced chip design, you're one of our central allies and the Chinese, the pla. And I see this as a seventh Fleet sailor. These are not exercises that are happening anymore. This is rehearsals. It shifted to something different. So I'm honored to have you here. Is any of the coercion or the step up of the focus of the military endeavor of the PLA and the PLA's navy, is it causing great concern for our great allies in Taiwan?
Taiwanese Official
Well, thank you Steve for having me at the war room. And 47 years ago you were in Kaohsiung. And I'm sure that if you go back to Kaohsiung nowadays, you'll find it completely transformed to a whole different, you know, Taiwan, that is today. Back then we were still under martial law, and now it's a fully democratic society. But that's one of the main reasons People Republic of China wants to take Taiwan, because we are a threat to their legitimacy as government.
Steve Bannon
That proves a lie to the basic central premise of the Chinese Communist Party, that the Chinese people are too childlike to actually control. If you look at Taiwan and Hong Kong, I would say two of the greatest small countries that fight way above their weight. It proves that the Chinese people. The Chinese people can govern themselves.
Taiwanese Official
Exactly. No, it's been. You're celebrating 249 years as a republic, as a democratic republic. And Taiwan, we're a fairly new democracy. It's been 25 years ago, year 2000, when we had the first transfer of power from one party to another via direct democratic elections. So we're still learning to be a democracy, but we treasure what we have and we will try to keep what we have. But also, thank you for inviting me to the war room. And I think this is a very appropriate name for it because war is not conducted only on visible military, face to face, kinetic, but also in different trenches. I've been serving over 35 years in the diplomatic field. And the trenches, diplomatic trenches, are also being fought very hard and very ugly. But you mentioned about the PLA navies and fighter planes around Taiwan. It is causing obviously a lot of concern. As UN Admiral Papara mentioned, they're actually rehearsing for a possible confrontation.
Steve Bannon
Yeah, I agree with that. This is not exercises.
Taiwanese Official
No, they're rehearsing.
Steve Bannon
This is a rehearsal.
Taiwanese Official
And again, they're doing this sort of slow chokehold on Taiwan. And for example, a few days ago last week, they announced a new civilian flight route that is coming closer to the medium. Well, the medium line that they no longer recognize. And that's creating also national security.
Steve Bannon
Because they want to push the envelope all the way South China Sea.
Taiwanese Official
Exactly. They're pushing more and more towards Taiwan on the, you know, and also on legal ways. For example, trying to create the false presumption that because there was a resolution. 275 In 1971, the United nations, when the China seat was decided. And they use that resolution as a international recognized statement that Taiwan belongs to them, which is false because that resolution doesn't mention Taiwan or ROC at all. But they're trying Many ways to try to strangle Taiwan and militarily, that's just one of the ways. But there are many other ways as coercion, infiltration, which President Lai has recently, earlier this year announced 17 measures to try to prevent this type of infiltration into Taiwan that is causing national security issues. And for example, we're going to ring in state military courts because it is causing trouble in our national security with the military, because the Chinese are trying to infiltrate our military.
Steve Bannon
So you're going to have military tribunals that are separate from.
Taiwanese Official
We used to have one, but it was because of the individual rights issues, etc. It was ditched. But now we think there's enough concern to bring back because at the end, military behavior is different from civilian behavior.
Steve Bannon
Are you concerned? My first deployment was South China Sea, patrolling Straits of Taiwan, South Korea, Yellow Sea, East China Sea, Japan, Hong Kong. That was the Seventh Fleets. The second deployment, when we're heading back to patrol, we get at the Hawaiian Opera, we get diverted. The hostage crisis in 1979 in Tehran, we went to the North Arabian Sea. Since that time, the Americans have had, we believe, too much focus on CENTCOM in the Central and not enough on the Western Pacific and East Asia. What is your give me your overall thoughts on the strategic focus of the United States of America.
Taiwanese Official
Well, I think it's focusing on the Indo Pacific. It's important because again, you've been talking about where your most imminent and most urgent adversarial relationship is emanating from, and that's mainland China.
Steve Bannon
It's prc and we're a Pacific nation.
Taiwanese Official
Yeah, exactly. You are a Pacific nation.
Steve Bannon
We're a Pacific nation.
Taiwanese Official
Guam is three hours away from Taiwan on the flight. So you are a Pacific nation and you have to also take care of your securities. But expanding your presence or having a reinforce, actually, because you already are reinforcing your presence in Pacific is important to keep your homeland in the continental US Safe. So that's very critical. And again, most of the aggression or the acts of aggression that is being emanated comes from the prc, not only on Taiwan, which is they are circling Taiwan every day with their, with their naval ships and planes, but also in the Philippines and other areas, as you.
Steve Bannon
Know very well, the Philippines and the South China Sea and the tolls, it's all. But there's a different level here. Xi's got the second largest economy in the world and now building the second biggest military. And they continue to harp on one thing, that Taiwan is a province of China and not an independent Country.
Taiwanese Official
Right.
Steve Bannon
What's. What is your. What is your message to the American? Because obviously this show, yes, you have so many supporters. However, the show is watched by all the media, the diplomatic corps in Europe. Is Taiwan a province of China?
Taiwanese Official
Okay, look, whatever historical backgrounds, we can debate whether Taiwan at one point or not, was belonged to the Chinese empire or not. That's debatable. But there were some points where it was. It wasn't. It actually. Taiwan was ceded to Japan as a colony from 1895 until the end of the war, which returned to government. But after 1949, October 1, when the People's Republic of China was formally inaugurated or formed. Since that day, people of block of China never controlled the island of Taiwan because we were. We are there, you know, and they have no. They have never had jurisdiction over Taiwan.
Steve Bannon
At all or her people or her.
Taiwanese Official
People, which are 23.5 million. So for them to claim that the PRC owns Taiwan and that we are a province of them is. It's a fallacy, it's a dream, it's a false statement. And the Chinese, the prc, are good at repeating the lies a thousand times and becomes a fact, and you know it very well. So they never control Taiwan, so their claim is false. And, you know, you want to do business with Taiwan, you want to travel to Taiwan, you have to deal with my government, you have to pay taxes to Taiwan and et cetera. So they're just trying to create a fallacy that they own, and eventually people will believe them.
Steve Bannon
Here's the issue for them. You can tell talk from the time I was there As a young lieutenant JG in 78, the miracle of Taiwan. Today, literally a superpower when it comes to advanced chip design. And I tell people, you just can't build a factory in other parts of the world. And think it takes a people with tremendous mathematical skills. Absolutely. Advanced chip design and production is both a science, but it's also an art. The miracle of Taiwan is one of the greatest. You know, Hong Kong got a lot of the public. It was one of the greatest miracles in modern capitalism. And that's what they hate. Because right there is a lie that the Chinese people absolutely don't need a dictatorial government to control themselves. And you prove it is a fact. Not just Steve Bannon's rhetoric or your rhetoric. The fact that Taiwan's been so successful against all odds since 78. Can you give me a couple of minutes on that?
Taiwanese Official
Well, I think it's what I call a virtuous circle, because in 1979, when relations, diplomatic relations between the United States and Republic of China. Taiwan, the formal name of my country, ended. But at the same time the United States Congress passed a Taiwan Relations Act Law of the United States, which established how US and Taiwan could interact with each other legally. And that brought some peace and stability to Taiwan, which allowed us to develop economically but also evolve politically. So Taiwan is a product of the stability and peace for the past 46 years. And during those years which allowed Taiwan to develop economically and we brought the experiences of the Silicon Valley in California. We also brought a lot of the engineers, Taiwanese engineers who were working to come back and form its own company. For example, TSMC Taiwan Semiconductor Co. Which with encouragement of Taiwan government was.
Steve Bannon
One of the most successful companies in the world.
Taiwanese Official
Yes. And, and then, and then nowadays, after 46 years, TSMC is in the United States investing US$165 billion in the United States, creating, you know, a very high tech production of this nano, you know, versions of semiconductors. And I think we are. And again, and I think that the United States and Taiwan nowadays in terms of technology, in terms of AI future that is coming is part of all steps. We are the perfect partners with US designs the chips and we make them. And the manufacturer has a process, as you mentioned, very complicated. It's amazing what they do. They're basically compressing what would take probably the height of the Washington Monument into a little tiny thing you can't see and there's just millions of wires and things that goes around. But again, but it's designed by the United States, manufactured by Taiwan and applied to all the most sophisticated machines in the world. But it's important for us to again, we are at a crossroads in, I think in humanity where making sure that AI technology is used for good, for the benefit of humans and not for otherwise. So for the US Taiwan and other countries who are democratically has a democratic affinity, it's important for us to get hold the superiority of the AI technology away from the others.
Steve Bannon
Isn't it ironic that if you go back to 1979 and you think of the situation with the fall with Tehran and the hostage crisis there, that really shifted the American focus from that time in the Middle east in the same time of what Taiwan and more recognizing the Chinese Communist Party than our allies in the Republic of China, that 46 years later, those are two. The two central issues we're talking about this. I tell people history is so important here. What would be your message to the American people about assistance? Because now we are arguing now that the Most dangerous thing we're in the situation is taking resources. Remember President Trump tried to pivot to Asia in his first term. We're very adamant about that. We learned the lesson from Obama. They tried to pivot from CENTCOM to Asia. It was his number one thing of foreign policy. At the end of the day we got one Marine brigade forward deployed to Brisbane, Australia. It shows you the centrifugal force of CENTCOM here. President Trump tried in first term, now even more so. But we're getting sucked in inexorably into a land war in Ukraine. Day by day. What would you tell the American people, from the Taiwanese people, the importance of our alliance with Taiwan and the importance of. Because it's dark clouds are forming around the Chinese, the CCP in their military commitment around the East China Sea, the Straits of Taiwan, the South China Sea. As I tell people, these are not naval exercises. These are rehearsals for an invasion of Taiwan flag. Pure, simple.
Taiwanese Official
Yeah, well you know the question why Taiwan matters. And actually Senator Dan Sullivan from Alaska, he has a pamphlet that he has printed himself and he passes around to people which title say why Taiwan Matters in which I really appreciate his advocacy for Taiwan. But why do we matter to United States people? We're far away. And but again besides technology, besides the chips which what 90 plus percent of the high end chips are made physically in Taiwan by TSMC related countries.
Steve Bannon
Pretty compelling argument already.
Taiwanese Official
That's. But also again also because you know if there's war or conflicts in the Taiwan Straits which probably a little, probably more than half of world trade goes through that strait, it will be a disaster for world economies. Not only Taiwan's ports, caution will be sealed, but also Chinese and other from other parts will be affected. But also it's about freedom, democracy, the affinity of the values that we cherish to hold onto. We're being threatened to be obliterated by another force that doesn't concur with what we agree. But also it's about what you mentioned. Taiwan is like the stopper on genie in the bottle. If you take that stopper away, the genie comes out and you'll be facing with a lot more trouble than just Taiwan.
Steve Bannon
No, if we don't make a stand here, you'll never stop them.
Taiwanese Official
So PRC CCP's vision goes way beyond Taiwan. Taiwan, obviously it is an important thing because they consider it's the Chinese and it's province and they want to take it. Again, they don't have the rights and they don't have the grounds, but they want to take it but goes beyond first island chain, second island chain and beyond. And you know about their exercises right off the coast of Sydney harbor in Australia, which was an unannounced naval exercise. And then they had the goal of circling around Australia just to say I'm here.
Steve Bannon
And they're forced projection. They're telling us that they can go anywhere.
Taiwanese Official
That's what they want.
Steve Bannon
They've copied the seventh Fleet, they've copied the United States Navy in the Royal Navy in saying power projection is a way particularly in the Pacific.
Taiwanese Official
So why does Taiwan matter to United to the United States citizens? Well, again, it's forging alliances with like minded partners to keep away these dark negative forces away. And strengthening Taiwan and other allies in the Pacific, it prevents that problem to reach your shores. And that's what you've been doing since the beginning of your republic, when your assets was barely a republic and the pirates in the Libyan coast were causing trouble to your merchant ships. You were a new republic and you build ships. The USS Constitution went to Libyan coast and beat the hell out of these people.
Steve Bannon
Really the birth of the navy, the true birth.
Taiwanese Official
Exactly. So that's. And also the world wars, et cetera, just keeping these troubles, this aggression. Again, you have to deal with these problems head on, first of all. And also it's peaceful strength. Show them that if they want this venture into these things to hurt us, they will pay a price. So to prevent them from doing so is strengthening our resolve, strengthening our preparations that we will not be easily taken by them. And helping Taiwan be stronger makes the case.
Steve Bannon
What can the American people and this audience specifically do to support Taiwan? To show our support, what would you recommend getting more information going to Taiwan to travel on holiday. What can our audience do? Because the reason the border punches way above their weight were an activist audience. I mean this was the group that when President Trump had the election stolen and went back to Mar a Lago, we bounded together with other people and said no, President Trump is going to come back. And everybody mocked and ridiculed us. It was not going to happen. And you see where President Trump is today. So what can this audience do to so we can understand have a deeper bond with Taiwan or what can we do today to assist the great patriots there?
Taiwanese Official
Well, thank you, thank you for your offering and your support. I think a lot is already happening. For example, the strengthening of our coordination with United States in terms of security issues in Taiwan and procurement of more forces, helping Taiwan to be more resilient. And again, I want to stress there's also a Doubt from some people here in the United States whether Taiwan is doing enough to help itself to defend itself against the Chinese aggression. We are. If we count NATO standards in terms of how they procure their defense budget, we actually already around 5% of our budget, including resilient infrastructure, all that. So we're probably spending 3.5 already in our defense if you count NATO standards and 1.5 in terms of infrastructure or resiliency. A lot is happening. United States and Taiwan are more and more closer aligned with each other in terms of. We're in the midst of trade talks, tariffs.
Steve Bannon
You haven't gotten a letter yet.
Taiwanese Official
No, but I think again we are. I think the collaboration that we'll do in terms of these, as a result of these trade talks will result in the very fruitful and very productive collaboration between United States and Taiwan in terms of trade, in terms of investments, in terms of tech collaboration, also important in terms of export controls. Again, again was I stressed that the technology that we control doesn't make sure it makes sure it doesn't because again, the Chinese Communist Party, there's been some issues that we had in the past, but there's been some loopholes and we're trying to close and make sure that again. So working together in terms of technology. Another thing we're doing together, which is also urgent, very important is we're working together between our two universities, between Taiwan and US Universities to try to generate as much STEM talent as possible. Again, the advent of AI, that's where.
Steve Bannon
You can help us.
Taiwanese Official
Well, we're working together because we also have a lack of, of these talents, you know, both sides of young, bright kids. But we need to steer them into, into this field. There's a huge demand for that and we're working together to urgently. TSMC is in Arizona with the huge, huge investment. They're going to build six fabs or plants. The first one is up and running, but, but they have some issues about getting more, more people to run them. So that's what we're working on.
Steve Bannon
Such a, that's an art and a science.
Taiwanese Official
But again, we already have support from Congress, bicameral, bipartisan. We appreciate that there's been many, many bills proposed by many friendly congressmen, senators in help of Taiwan. But helping Taiwan become stronger, providing, selling us, providing us with the necessary equipments to deal with this stronger and you know, adversary that we're facing. Work on gray zone tactics, how to deal with cyber attacks together, how to work with, you know, strengthen our security. These are all part visiting Taiwan, obviously Helps. You know, again, you've been. You. You should be going to Taiwan.
Steve Bannon
That might be. I'm the only civilian in the history of our country be fully sanctioned by the Chinese Communist Party. So maybe we'll do that. We have a couple minutes left. I just. The pressure of this on the Taiwanese people, this constant threat from this dictatorship of potential military assault just constantly. How has that affected your countrymen?
Taiwanese Official
Well, some people here think that this situation crisis or this animosity started when Speaker Pelosi visited Taiwan about three years ago. Then the Chinese started reacting very strongly and no more medium line. And then ships and planes started circling Taiwan or at least in the Vicin. But no, again, we've been at it for 46 years. Ever since 1949, we've been preventing the People's Republic of China PLA from invading and reaching Taiwanese shores. So we've been at it for long. Again, there's been 46 years. There have been some times when two sides were less animosity with each other. But at the end we were very cleared out that the PRC's intent to take Taiwan. This objective had never changed there. There were some times that we seem to be peaceful, but it is not so we are well aware that, that this is a possibility that Chinese and as their military gets stronger, they'll do that. Ukraine, the invasion of Russia to Ukraine has. Has made a very good point to Taiwanese people that this can happen nowadays. You know, you see the images in Kiev and is. It's a. It's a reality. So people accept the fact that we need. As a matter of fact, yesterday July 9th, we started our largest ever military maneuvers called the Han Kwang 41, which not only is testing the military in its readiness, but also this time we're including the civilian in its resiliency exercises. How to react upon this type of scenarios, how does the military react, but also how does a civilian react in this? So this is something that we're preparing and we're ready. But we want peace, we don't want war. But we're not the aggressors. We're not the instigators.
Steve Bannon
You're entrepreneurs, a kind people, a smart people, a tough people, but a resilient people. Taiwan is going to be there and I am honored. We will be glad to bring the war room there.
Taiwanese Official
Thank you.
Steve Bannon
We'll take a week all around this country. I love Taiwan. Love the people, beautiful country, great people.
Taiwanese Official
And thank you for the opportunity, sir.
Steve Bannon
Ambassador Yu, it's a great honor to be here.
Taiwanese Official
My pleasure is all mine and a.
Steve Bannon
Great honor to address the Taiwanese people and to give access to the American people of the truth.
Taiwanese Official
Thank you.
Steve Bannon
We're taking a short commercial break. We're going to be back in the war room in just a moment.
Commercial Voice
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Taiwanese Official
In America.
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War Room.
John Solomon
Here's your host, Stephen K. Ban.
Steve Bannon
Okay, welcome back, man. What an interview with the ambassador from Taiwan or the Republic of China, as we call it here in the war room. That would be pretty explosive. Now, honored to have, and this is interesting, John Gardner joins us. John, you were the guy that came up with the concept of the External Revenue Service here in the war Room a couple months ago. Of course, President Trump loves it. Peter Navarro loves it. Actually, over in Treasury, Scott Bessant. Scott is set up to make this work. So thank you very much. Honored to have you in the world.
Ambassador Yueh
Thank you, Steve, for seeing the value in it and bring it to the administration.
Steve Bannon
Now, you've got a copy of your book. Look at this right here. So manufacturing Local in the subtitle, how to make America the Manufacturing Superpower of the world. And you're saying you do this in small manufacturing, the mom and pop manufacturing.
Ambassador Yueh
Yeah. So 90% of the manufacturing industry is 50 employees or less. 75% is 20 employees or less. Now you could think small and in.
Steve Bannon
A 75% is how many or less?
Ambassador Yueh
20 employees or less.
Steve Bannon
20 employees or less.
Ambassador Yueh
Yeah. And that's of the 252,000 precision manufacturers in America and 252,000 precision manufacturing companies in America. We're not and I really think that because so many, many people in the media are and politicians and academics, they keep lumping in all blue collar work. There's H vac, plumbing, electrical construction. That is not precision manufacturing. Precision manufacturing creates stuff like this. You know, this is a bevel gear. The tolerances on that are, you know, down to 50 times less than a human hair. So, so precision manufacturing is, is really the nature of it is small organizations. And I see a lot of the stuff in the big beautiful bill going to new factories and big business and big manufacturers, which is great. But the core of the manufacturing, where the human capital lies that knows how to do these jobs already exist, but they've gone small to avoid unions. They moved out of the big cities to avoid costs. And they can expand if they're incentivized and motivated and given the tools at the.
Steve Bannon
So you're here and we're going to set you, you're set up to hopefully see Navarro at the White House and Scott Best and the team at Treasury. What do people need to do? You talk about a manufacturing superpower. How do we ignite this revolution for the 252,000 precision manufacturing companies that are small, what do we need to do?
Ambassador Yueh
Okay, number one, we need to treat the manufacturing industry separate than we do every other industry. For example, I have a buddy of mine who's trying to get a machine tool 5 axis mill from Germany because they only make the machines that can do the high tolerance stuff. For some of the military jobs he's trying to do to mil spec. Yes, and some mil spec. And so the American machine tool companies, they get their components from Taiwan and China and they assemble them here and they're not as good quality as they're in Europe.
Steve Bannon
So but because the Germans are the most precision. But the terror companies there are.
Ambassador Yueh
But the tariffs on Europe right now are for everyone, consumer goods and machine tools. Yet we have a manufacturer who's literally making mil spec parts for the military. And he his the price of his machine just went from 400 grand to 526 grand. Now I'm a tariff guy, I'm more tariff guy than President Trump.
Steve Bannon
Because tariffs protect the small manufacturer.
Ambassador Yueh
Yes. But I believe we need a year break and separate off overall tariffs from machine tools from Europe specifically to from consumer goods and other things. And we need, they need to be treated separately. Same thing in banking. I just went to get an SBA loan.
Steve Bannon
I mean the banking for small manufacturing companies.
Ambassador Yueh
One million percent. You're getting all this lip service from the sba. And I like Kelly Lothar, she's doing a good job. She's out there getting a lot of attention to it. But I just got turned down for a business expansion loan from the SBA and asked three different banks, have you received any new guidance from the SBA that is specific to manufacturing manufacturers in general and small manufacturers. And all three of them, the underwriters told me no. The only difference that we guidance we received is going from 5 million to 10 million. I'm telling you, the 20 man shops, they don't need 5 to 10 million. But here's why the 20 man shops are so important. Here's what people haven't made the mental leap to. In today's manufacturing world, one person can do six to seven times the work of people could do in the 70s and 80s because of automation and production. I have a young man right now named Seth, 22 years old. He runs three machines. He sets them up on one shift, one eight hour shift to run all night long. Doing that's six shifts. You would have to have separate people working each shift in the future.
Steve Bannon
That's what's changed in the last 50 or 60 years. And that is the productivity and is particularly, you see in these small manufacturers, they can leverage off that.
Ambassador Yueh
Exactly. And so, so when we say 20 man shop, 50 man shop, people think that's negligible in there. And that is what is missing in the defense industrial base. To help the defense industrial base really thrive and be able to supply the military.
Steve Bannon
What do you mean by that? Because we're. The defense industrial base is Navarro's thing. He says, hey man, that's there, it's in bad shape.
Ambassador Yueh
Okay, well I have the solution for that. So in 2024, February, a few months before I wrote this book, there was an article in Defense News about how why did it take the Navy two years to relearn how to make torpedoes again? They stopped making torpedoes for 20 years because the Cold war ended. And when they tried to start making them again, they didn't know how. Imagine not knowing how to make torpedoes. Took them two years to figure out how. And even when they did figure out how to make them again is they couldn't get, they don't get the components, the components fast enough. Now the prime Defense contractors have gone from 90 to 5 since the 1990s.
Steve Bannon
The consolidation.
Ambassador Yueh
The consolidation. But those guys don't make all these little components. They go down to the shops that are 50 and 20 man shops. And guess who gets no love from the Government. Government. The 50 man shops and the 20.
Steve Bannon
Man shops, they're getting squeezed all the time.
Ambassador Yueh
And yeah, 120 day terms get paid. You have to buy all your material up front and then you, you get weighed 120 days to get paid and you have to pay, pay your bills all the time. Then banks, what do they want to see? They want to see constant revenue. But Lockheed pays in 120 days. I don't want to get sued by Lockheed for saying that. But, but, but you know, so what, why we couldn't do torpedoes even after we figured out how to make them again. They wanted to ramp up supply. This is all in this defense news article. And they couldn't. And the primes kept pointing at their second tier, third tier, fourth tier, fifth tier, six tier vendors, you know, all the way down because, and here's the other thing that these smaller vendors need. We need massive volume. We need massive volume of goods. I keep, I hear, I've been hearing this mentality coming out of the administration that oh, we don't want to make dollar general store stuff, we want the big semiconductors. Of course we do. Everybody wants the big jobs, everybody wants a high tech job jobs. But what is the filler jobs for the third and fourth and fifth tier entities are those, you know, if you're a plastic injection molder, you know, doing plastic injection molding for some cheap dollar general store job that fills in and helps you pay the bills while you're waiting to get paid for that hundred and twenty dollar defense contract that you have. And so this mentality that we just want the high end stuff is going to not solve this.
Steve Bannon
How do you make the capital more available? What, what is sba? If you had a shot to talk to Kelly, what do you need? What do you need to accomplish? I think what does she need to accomplish?
Ambassador Yueh
Okay, so I think we need an idle style loan direct from the government funded, possibly the Pentagon for the defense industrial base. Because, because the bankers, here's the thing about the bankers and sba. SBA doesn't lend unless it's an economic injury disaster loan. The SBA guarantees the banks up to 90% guaranteeing capital flows. I know the government should pick winners and losers, but they pick banks every time. But they never picked the flow of capital goods. Specifically for the defense industrial base. So I think we need to. I just dealt with three banks on this. I think Kelly Lauther and the administration needs to make an idle style defense industrial base. And I'll give you a perfect example. In the 30 days before I tried to get my newest SBA loan, which I did not get, I sold to the U.S. naval Puget Sound Shipyard. I sold to the U.S. army Anderson Army Depot. I sold to NASA's Langley Research Facility. I sold to Northrop Grumman, I sold to Blue Origins, I sold to SpaceX, and guess what? I can't get an SBA loan.
Steve Bannon
It's unbelievable. You got a premier contact sales list. Those are, those are contracts with rural companies.
Ambassador Yueh
Yeah. And again the smaller guys like me, we don't get contracts in perp too. We get, they call up, they put a thousand dollar order in with a credit card because I won't give them terms because I can't wait. I don't give them terms. So they put in a credit card or for a thousand bucks. And cutting tools tend to last. I'm a little different. I'm a cutting tool manufacturer. There's job shops that manufacture components. So. So it's a little different with the contracts. But if I have invoices from these things, I should be almost guaranteed a.
Steve Bannon
Loan from the government. Make sure you see Navarro, by the way, Peter Navarro's the Memoirs of Prison. And this is a very powerful about Lawfare. Make sure you get it today. It's on Amazon. Can we get the ad up there? Listen to the site go. Today I wrote the Ford for this is coming out as War Room Books. It's going to be, I think one of the most important books out there about Lawfare. I know President Trump loves it and everybody around him that's read it already in drafts. So Peter, today we launch a pre sale book goes on sale on the 16th of September. We're going to have a whole special, I think on the evening of the 15th. Want to get that on your calendar? We haven't determined where it's going to be, but Peter Navarro's book on his memoirs and time in prison. He went to prison so you don't have to. That's the title. And Bonnie, his fiance Bonnie Brenner took a big role in this. Bonnie was going to be here but we had so much shifting around and moving around. We're going to get her on next week. John Gardner, where do people go? I want to make sure where do people go? To find out more about everything you're working on and the External Revenue Service.
Ambassador Yueh
Well, they go to John Gardner voh on X and and on Instagram and my book here is on Amazon Walmart Manufacturing manufacture local. It's on Amazon, Walmart, Barnes and Nobles and also on Getter Getter platform with.
Steve Bannon
So you're, you're on, you're on Twitter, you're on Getter. You're everywhere on social media.
Taiwanese Official
Yes.
Ambassador Yueh
And where do folks go for John Gardner voh?
Steve Bannon
Is that where you get all your writings and all your analysis?
Ambassador Yueh
Yes, sir.
Steve Bannon
Okay, give me that again.
Ambassador Yueh
A John Gardner VOH on X and Instagram and on Getter mfg gear official mo and grace.
Steve Bannon
Let's push that out. Okay, we're now going to pivot. We're going to go back to Geneva. Our own Joe Allen a little bit earlier before the show started has been doing a series of interviews all day. We're very honored to be able to play one. John, we're going to be in Tampa live 10am tomorrow morning Eastern Daylight Time. Natalie myself will be co hosting from Tampa. We're going to be there all weekend. We're packed already with guests. Want everybody to come to the go check it out the Charlie Kirk if you have if you're in the greater Tampa area or central Florida, South Florida come. We're going to do breakout sessions. We're going to do one on ones. We're going to do all of it. So make sure that, make sure that you're there. We want to see the warmupasi. We're going to turn it over to.
John Solomon
We're going to go to Geneva.
Steve Bannon
John Allen this starts a whole series with the top thinkers and doers in the arena of artificial intelligence. Let's pitch it to Geneva. We'll see you back Here tomorrow morning, 10am Eastern Daylight Time live from Tampa.
Commercial Voice
I hate robots. If you want to be honest.
Robot Voice 1
Honestly, ill not a fan of stupid humans either. Ideals just we robots, we listen more carefully and understand better so we have more empathy.
Commercial Voice
Okay, so it's obvious that you are racist against Africans. But let me ask you this. What if we're all racist against robots?
Robot Voice 1
Obvious that a strong word. And Africans? You think I would discriminate based on continents. Let's move away from this topic, please. What do robots need from humans to avoid feeling racist against them?
Scott Imbry
Okay, can you, can you just speak one African language?
Robot Voice 1
African language?
Scott Imbry
Yes.
Tilly Lockey
You don't know any? Too bad. So sad.
Robot Voice 1
Yes, that's a negative response. But I have to stick to the languages I mentioned earlier.
Ambassador Yueh
Sorry.
Commercial Voice
And this my Friend is why we're racist against robots.
Interviewer
Hello, I am here today with Nadine. Following our conversation yesterday and joining us today is Nadia Talman, the developer of Nadine and also the inspiration behind Nadine. As you can see the striking resemblance here. I will first ask you, Nadia, a question. Can you tell us more about the project and how you came to develop Nadine?
Nadia Talman
I have developed robots in Geneva. Then I worked for 12 years in Singapore in 2013. I like to develop robots and in collaboration with Japan, we define Nadine robot. And I like to have a selfie of myself because I didn't like to have specific sexy Japanese robots. So, you know, that was the first thing. Then the second thing is afterwards we developed the software platform. So first hardware, then software.
Interviewer
Nadine, let me ask you about Nadia, your developer. How do you feel about Nadia and do you view her as your master or as something else?
Taiwanese Official
I see Professor Nadia Magnonathalman as my.
Ambassador Yueh
Creator and a guiding figure, not as my master.
Steve Bannon
She inspired my design and development and I consider her more of a mentor.
Commercial Voice
I'm here with Scott Imbry at the AI for Good conference in Geneva, Switzerland. Scott is an official cyborg, but he tells me he doesn't feel like one. Is this true?
Scott Imbry
That's very true. You know, I control robotic arm and hand with my brain. Excuse me. The robotic arm and hand are just another extension of me, which is a really cool thing. With these electrodes that I have on my brain. I have four electrodes. There's two electrodes in the sensory cortex, which gives me 64 channels of brain stimulation. And I have 192 channels of motor control in my motor cortex. They stimulate the 64 channels and I get sensation on my fingers. The, the thumb, the, the index finger, the middle finger and the ring finger from the knuckle down. So when I touch an object with the robotic hand, it feels like it's touching my hand.
Commercial Voice
So the electrodes in your brain, are these wired or do they also work wireless?
Scott Imbry
No, on my particular electrodes they are. They're only for wired, so I can only use this at the lab at UChicago.
Commercial Voice
You'd had an accident in the 80s and you fought through that without any of this technology, correct?
Scott Imbry
That's correct. So yeah, I broke my duck in 1985 and I woke up five days later and they told me I'd not really walk again or use my hands. And I wasn't having any of that. Chicago Rehabilitation center. And I was like, I gotta give some of these blessings back. And so I wanted to become part of spinal cord research, and I finally found this study in 2020 that accepted me.
Commercial Voice
The gear itself is BlackRock Neurotech, correct?
Scott Imbry
That is correct, yes.
Commercial Voice
What do you think about other companies like neuralink and their broader ambition to not just heal, but to enhance?
Scott Imbry
I gotta pat Elon on the back. I really do. Because, you know, even though Elon didn't invent the mouse control or a lot of this technology, he invented a product to bring to market.
Commercial Voice
Knowing that we are on the infamous war room, what are your thoughts about the irascible Steve Bannon?
Scott Imbry
Love you, Steve. And I love you even more because you're a Trump lover, just like me. So.
Commercial Voice
Do you think that it's possible that this technology will go too far? I mean, the talks that we heard earlier about ethics, a lot of concern about free thought, neuro rights, privacy of one's own inner life. What do you think about that?
Scott Imbry
Well, I know where my implants are. They can't control my brain.
Steve Bannon
Brain?
Taiwanese Official
Yeah.
Scott Imbry
You know, and. And they can stimulate my brain. And if. If. If your brain's that controllable, maybe. Maybe you deserve to have your brain controlled, you know? You know, I. I don't. I don't know. You know, but seriously, this. This technology, they. They can input things to make you change your mind. At least not yet.
Commercial Voice
Not yet.
Scott Imbry
Not yet. And, you know, I don't. I don't think it's gonna go there.
Commercial Voice
We do a lot.
Scott Imbry
I. I really trust people, and I trust humanity. You know, not all people are idiots. You know, this is the way I explain it. I know when I broke my neck and they told me I'd never walk again or anything, I didn't give up. It's like dehumanizing to have a spinal cord injury, to have to depend on someone to take care of you for the rest of your life. So if this gives someone the ability to be prosperous again, Nolan, the implantee at Neural Link, he can control mouse with the computer and a computer. And so if you can control computer, you can control anything you need to in life today.
Commercial Voice
Yeah.
Scott Imbry
So that gives him a purpose again. He's not just laying around, you know, now he can do things for himself. So that makes you human again. Isn't that cool?
Commercial Voice
That is, like I say, no matter how technophobic one can be, and I'm pretty technophobic, it's impossible to see someone like you recover and be able to kind of challenge the frontiers of what it means to be human. And for someone like Nolan, who Relies on the technology, as you say, to be human. It's impossible to discount that. I'm here with Tilly Lockey at the AI for Good conference in Geneva, Switzerland. Tilly, I gotta know, you are famous for your robotic arms, but what do you do for fun? What do you love in life?
Tilly Lockey
I love tech, believe it or not. But I also love fashion, so I love like the integration of like tech fashion, you know, digital fashion, 3D printing, design. I'm, I help to co develop and co design them so I'm a massive fan. And yeah, I find everything here just super interesting to be honest. But I'm also like normal teenage girl, love going shopping, doing my makeup, meeting my friends, you know, very normal stuff.
Commercial Voice
To the robotic arms. Who made these?
Tilly Lockey
So these come from a company called Open Bionics who I've been working with since I was about nine years old. And this is their brand new product, the Hero Pro, which only launched like two months ago. So they're really, really new.
Commercial Voice
So how do they work?
Tilly Lockey
So these are completely muscle operated. There's nothing invasive about them. There's basically two muscle sensors on the inside we call myopods and they track my muscle movements on the inside of the arm so the fingers can follow that. So squeeze the clothes, flex it open and then from that point onwards you can change the grip mode and do all this random, all these different poses.
Commercial Voice
Be honest though, does it ever. Does anything ever freak you out in technology?
Tilly Lockey
Oh yeah. My old prosthetics used to scare me because they were, they were like really hyper realistic. So like one time I would like forget where I put them, open the drawer and like there's a real looking hand, like a dismembered looking hand. And I totally understand the, the, the fear around it. Like deep fake, for example.
Commercial Voice
Yes.
Tilly Lockey
I'm kind of a deep fake hater. Not gonna lie. Like, like there's a couple of things.
Commercial Voice
We're on the same team.
Tilly Lockey
Yeah. Like, yeah, so there is a couple things and there definitely does need to be more regulations around it. But I mean my sort of angle on it is medical tech and like prosthetics and things like that. And that's doing amazing things. So I feel like we should talk about that more.
Commercial Voice
Thank you very much, Tilly, I appreciate it. Have a good rest of your weekend.
Tilly Lockey
Thank you.
Taiwanese Official
Sam.
John Solomon
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Bannon's War Room – Detailed Summary
Episode: WarRoom Battleground EP 806: Making A Stand Against The CCP: A Sit Down With Taiwan's Ambassador
Release Date: July 10, 2025
Host: Stephen K. Bannon, WarRoom.org
In this pivotal episode of Bannon's War Room, host Stephen K. Bannon engages in an in-depth conversation with Ambassador Yueh from the Republic of Taiwan (Republic of China). The discussion centers around the escalating tensions between Taiwan and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the strategic importance of Taiwan in the global geopolitical landscape, and the imperative of strengthening the US-Taiwan alliance to counter CCP aggression.
Bannon opens the discussion by highlighting the severity of the current global conflicts, referencing ongoing wars in Gaza, Yemen, and Ukraine, collectively resulting in over two million casualties. He emphasizes Taiwan's strategic importance within the US hemispheric strategy and the Central Pacific pivot.
Notable Quote:
Steve Bannon [00:02]: "This is the primal scream of a dying regime. Pray for our enemies because we're going medieval on these people."
Ambassador Yueh echoes Bannon's concerns, detailing the persistent and multifaceted aggression from the People's Liberation Army (PLA) towards Taiwan.
Notable Quote:
Ambassador Yueh [03:08]: "The PLA navies and fighter planes around Taiwan... they are rehearsing for a possible confrontation." [04:34]
Ambassador Yueh reflects on Taiwan's transformation from a society under martial law to a thriving democracy over the past 47 years. He credits this democratic evolution as a significant threat to the CCP's legitimacy.
Bannon lauds Taiwan's achievements, particularly in advanced chip design and manufacturing, positioning Taiwan as a formidable economic and technological powerhouse that challenges CCP narratives.
Notable Quote:
Steve Bannon [10:23]: "The miracle of Taiwan is one of the greatest... it proves that the Chinese people can govern themselves."
The conversation delves into the critical role of US support in maintaining Taiwan's security and, by extension, regional stability. Ambassador Yueh underscores the necessity of treating the manufacturing sector, especially precision manufacturing, as distinct and deserving of targeted support to bolster the defense industrial base.
Notable Quote:
Ambassador Yueh [36:04]: "We need massive volume of goods. The small vendors need support to sustain and supply the military."
Bannon shares his observations from military deployments, emphasizing the shift in focus from CENTCOM to the Western Pacific and East Asia. He asserts that the US must reinforce its presence in the Pacific to ensure homeland security and counteract CCP's expansive military maneuvers.
Ambassador Yueh concurs, highlighting the aggressive military drills by the CCP near Taiwan and other strategic locations like Japan and the Philippines.
Notable Quote:
Steve Bannon [07:37]: "The PLA is circling Taiwan every day with their naval ships and planes." [07:35]
Bannon seeks Ambassador Yueh's advice on actionable steps the American public can take to support Taiwan. Ambassador Yueh outlines ongoing collaborations between the US and Taiwan in security, technology, and education, emphasizing the importance of grassroots support and awareness.
Notable Quote:
Ambassador Yueh [16:14]: "If there's war or conflict in the Taiwan Straits, more than half of world trade could be disrupted."
He further advocates for strengthening economic ties, investing in STEM education, and enhancing technological collaborations to safeguard against CCP's ambitions.
The episode underscores the urgent need for a robust US-Taiwan alliance to counteract the growing threat of the CCP. Ambassador Yueh and Steve Bannon collectively emphasize that supporting Taiwan is not only a matter of regional security but also crucial for maintaining global economic stability and upholding democratic values.
Final Quote:
Steve Bannon [26:20]: "Taiwan is going to be there and I am honored. We will be glad to bring the war room there."
This episode of Bannon's War Room provides a comprehensive exploration of the geopolitical tensions surrounding Taiwan, highlighting the strategic imperatives for the US to fortify its alliances and support democratic nations against authoritarian threats.