Hung-Hsiang Liao (廖宏祥)
Story
廖宏祥 is a Taiwan-born defense and aerospace analyst who spent his engineering career inside the American defense industry — 35-plus years in defense and aerospace in the US and Asia, including a stint as the Taiwan representative of McDonnell Douglas (麥道航太) — and became one of the most quoted 旅美 voices on Taiwan’s own defense questions. In the US he settled in Southern California and stayed woven into the overseas Taiwanese community: in 1999 he was a featured speaker at the Midwest 夏令會 (MTSC 1999), where the 台美人 community organized its own summer conferences, lecturing on the TMD theater-missile-defense system and on information warfare; the same summer he spoke on 「戰區飛彈防禦系統（TMD）」 at the 東南區台灣人夏令會 (SETAA 1999). Back in Taiwan he served as a 榮譽講座 at 國防大學戰爭學院 and as a researcher at 台綜院戰略所, and in 1998 he briefed President 李登輝 on a recommendation that Taiwan develop drones — a proposal 國防部長 唐飛 then set aside, an episode 廖宏祥 later recalled with regret as the drone era arrived anyway.
Identity
- English: Hung-Hsiang Liao (romanization inferred from 漢名; the cited press gives only the hanzi 廖宏祥 — not asserted as legal English name)
- Chinese: 廖宏祥
- Geography / era / roles: Taiwan-born, US-based (Southern California per community record); defense/aerospace engineer and defense analyst; 前麥道航太駐台代表; 前國防大學戰爭學院榮譽講座; 台綜院戰略所研究員 (former)
- Community tie: proven — invited speaker at MTSC Midwest 夏令會 1999 (MTSC 1999, 台美人 community archive, two independent posts) as 「航太專家／國防專家」; 旅美 military commentator in Taiwan press. Co-speakers at MTSC 1999 included 建國黨前主席許世楷 and FAPA會長 陳文彥.
From the record
| Fact | Date | Source | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 應邀於中西部夏令會（MTSC）演講：向同鄉演講「TMD飛彈防禦」、向學生社演講「資訊戰爭」；與會講員包括建國黨前主席許世楷、FAPA會長陳文彥等 | 1999 (summer) | 台美史料中心 MTSC 1999 報導 (MTSC 1999; knowledge/web-archives/taiwaneseamericanhistory-org/posts/mtsc-1999.md) | sourced |
| 獲邀為 SETAA 演講主題「戰區飛彈防禦系統（TMD）」，聽眾反應熱烈；被介紹為國防問題專家廖宏祥博士 | 1999 (summer) | 台美史料中心 SETAA 1999 報導 (SETAA 1999; knowledge/web-archives/taiwaneseamericanhistory-org/posts/setaa-1999.md) | sourced |
| 於台綜院戰略所向李登輝總統提交報告，建議台灣發展無人機；李交辦國防部長唐飛聽取簡報（康寧祥陪同），唐飛以「防禦固守」為由裁示不發展；廖宏祥後回憶此為錯失 | 1998 | 自由共和國專欄〈從美國駁回武器採購 再談台灣國防改革〉, 自由時報 2022-06-26 (self-account) | sourced (self-reported) |
| 就川普認同「烏克蘭入北約不實際」發表分析：赫格塞斯稱烏恢復 2014 前舊界不切實際、川普同意；廖宏祥指以戰爭改變疆界違反國際法（赫爾辛基最終法案、聯合國憲章第 2、51 條），川普先與普亭談 90 分鐘再與澤倫斯基談 50 分鐘表明白Already 站俄方，且可能使普亭取得北約成員資格否決權；川普和平計畫與中國 2023「關於政治解決烏克蘭危機的中國立場」相近，提醒台灣在對川普幾乎無槓桿下應非常謹慎 | 2025-02-13 | 美洲台灣日報 (reported) | sourced |
- 2025-02-13 — 具名評論人廖宏祥（曾任麥道航太駐台代表、國防大學戰爭學院榮譽講座、台綜院戰略所研究員，旅美國防航太分析師）就赫格塞斯／川普烏克蘭戰立場發表分析並提醒台灣謹慎（即時新聞 62173，自由時報0213 wire；正文逐字存檔 knowledge/web-archives/taiwandaily-net-62173-62173.md，收錄紀錄見 美洲台灣日報 ingest hub 202502 slice 2/8 ledger 行）— sourced
Related Pages
- MTSC 1999 — 台美史料中心 record of his 1999 Midwest 夏令會 lectures
- SETAA 1999 — 台美史料中心 record of his 1999 東南區夏令會 TMD keynote
- 台美史料中心 (TAH) — archive holding both 1999 夏令會 報導 (redirects to TAH Foundation 台美史料中心)
- Wen Yen Chen (陳文彥) — FAPA 會長, co-speaker at MTSC 1999
- 美洲台灣日報 (Taiwan Daily) — source hub for the 2025-02-13 烏克蘭戰 analysis
- Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) — President whom 廖宏祥 briefed in 1998 on the drone proposal
Gaps / NEED YOU
- English legal name, birth year, and emigration year are not in the record. One sentence from the community would fill this.
- Education per 凱達格蘭論壇 bio (交通大學航運技術及計算機工程雙學士、佛州州立大學計算機科學碩士、馬里蘭大學計算機科學博士班研究) is from a 2020s conference bio — needs a second independent source before promotion to the record table.
- US residence city and McDonnell Douglas tenure dates unrecorded.
Revision History
- 2026-10-24 — created from taiwandaily 202502 slice-2 absorb (即時新聞 62173, 自由時報0213 wire quoting 廖宏祥) + 台美史料中心 MTSC/SETAA 1999 archives.