Vice Defense Minister Kang Ning-hsiang (康寧祥) held talks with US Defense Department officials on Tuesday, the most senior Tai-wanese defense official to visit the Pentagon in at least 23 years.
Kang, in brief remarks to reporters, said he had met his US counterpart, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz.
The meeting took place outside the Pentagon.
"We were just getting to know each other," Kang said. Asked if they had discussed weapons sales, Kang said he was "only responsible for policy, not procurement."
But people who attended a dinner in his honor on Monday said Kang's delegation was discussing, among other things, arms purchases to counter China's stated threat to Taiwan.
A spokesman for the Pentagon, Navy Lieutenant-Commander Jeff Davis, said the sessions were needed to fulfill US responsibilities under the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act, which requires Washington to supply Taiwan enough arms to defend itself.
Kang is the most senior Taiwanese defense official to visit the US military headquarters since at least 1979, when Washington broke off official ties with Taipei.
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