Top-level officials from Taiwan and the US on Tuesday met for a day-long security dialogue at the American Institute in Taiwan’s (AIT) Washington headquarters.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) and National Security Council Secretary-General Wellington Koo (顧立雄) met with US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman and Principal Deputy National Security Adviser Jon Finer for the annual talks. The meeting started at 10am and lasted until 5pm.
No official statements were made as to what was discussed during the meeting. Neither Taipei nor Washington confirmed that the meeting even occurred.
Photo: CNA
Director of the Asia program at the German Marshall Fund Bonnie Glaser said the meeting has taken place for the past 25 years.
The Financial Times described it as part of an annual “special diplomatic dialogue” between senior Taiwanese and US officials.
Despite the secrecy surrounding the meeting, Wu and Koo waved at reporters as they arrived at the AIT office in Arlington, Virginia, at about 9:30am, accompanied by Representative to the US Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴).
None of them spoke publicly before or after the meeting.
The AIT represents US interests in Taiwan in the absence of official diplomatic ties. Its headquarters are based in the US, with branch offices in Taipei and Kaohsiung.
Other participants in the meeting included US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink; Rick Waters, US deputy assistant secretary of state for China and Taiwan; and Ely Ratner, US assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs.
US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for China Michael Chase, US National Security Council (NSC) Senior Director for China and Taiwan Laura Rosenberger, NSC China Director Rush Doshi and AIT Director Sandra Oudkirk also attended the meeting.
The timing of the talks is significant, as rising US-China tensions following the US’ shooting down of a suspected Chinese spy balloon likely made Washington less concerned with offending Beijing, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政) said.
The meeting showed that China can no longer obstruct the development of Taiwan-US relations, he said, adding that the talks focused heavily on policy issues and were light on platitudes.
That the meeting was attended by national security, defense and foreign affairs officials suggests that the scope of talks was likely broad and that bilateral cooperation, including on the US-Taiwan Initiative on 21st-Century Trade, was discussed, he said.
The visit to Washington by a sitting foreign minister marks the beginning of a new era in Taiwan-US relations, DPP Legislator Chao Tien-lin (趙天麟) said.
Wu’s visit was made possible by the US’ 2018 Taiwan Travel Act and sets a precedent, he said.
High-ranking Taiwanese and US officials conducted talks via the special channel on multiple occasions, but the latest meeting being made public marks a shift, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) said.
That the contents of talks through the channel over the past three years were leaked to the media suggests political intent, he said.
The positions of the officials who took part in the meeting suggest discussions likely included matters of diplomacy, the situation across the Taiwan Strait, national defense and coming exchanges between high-level officials, Chiang said.
US House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s planned visit to Taiwan and President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) rumored plans to visit the US might have necessitated dialogue about how best to deal with China’s possible response, he said.
The members of the Taiwanese delegation should reveal details of the talks after returning home, he said, adding that transparency would calm the public and the armed forces.
The meeting sends the message that Taiwan-US relations are becoming normalized and the process is irreversible, independent Legislator Freddy Lim (林昶佐) said, adding that the strength of the relationship would help protect the nation’s interests.
Additional reporting by Jonathan Chin
The CIA has a message for Chinese government officials worried about their place in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) government: Come work with us. The agency released two Mandarin-language videos on social media on Thursday inviting disgruntled officials to contact the CIA. The recruitment videos posted on YouTube and X racked up more than 5 million views combined in their first day. The outreach comes as CIA Director John Ratcliffe has vowed to boost the agency’s use of intelligence from human sources and its focus on China, which has recently targeted US officials with its own espionage operations. The videos are “aimed at
STEADFAST FRIEND: The bills encourage increased Taiwan-US engagement and address China’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758 to isolate Taiwan internationally The Presidential Office yesterday thanked the US House of Representatives for unanimously passing two Taiwan-related bills highlighting its solid support for Taiwan’s democracy and global participation, and for deepening bilateral relations. One of the bills, the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, requires the US Department of State to periodically review its guidelines for engagement with Taiwan, and report to the US Congress on the guidelines and plans to lift self-imposed limitations on US-Taiwan engagement. The other bill is the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, which clarifies that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the issue of the representation of Taiwan or its people in
US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on Friday expressed concern over the rate at which China is diversifying its military exercises, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Saturday. “The rates of change on the depth and breadth of their exercises is the one non-linear effect that I’ve seen in the last year that wakes me up at night or keeps me up at night,” Paparo was quoted by FT as saying while attending the annual Sedona Forum at the McCain Institute in Arizona. Paparo also expressed concern over the speed with which China was expanding its military. While the US
SHIFT: Taiwan’s better-than-expected first-quarter GDP and signs of weakness in the US have driven global capital back to emerging markets, the central bank head said The central bank yesterday blamed market speculation for the steep rise in the local currency, and urged exporters and financial institutions to stay calm and stop panic sell-offs to avoid hurting their own profitability. The nation’s top monetary policymaker said that it would step in, if necessary, to maintain order and stability in the foreign exchange market. The remarks came as the NT dollar yesterday closed up NT$0.919 to NT$30.145 against the US dollar in Taipei trading, after rising as high as NT$29.59 in intraday trading. The local currency has surged 5.85 percent against the greenback over the past two sessions, central
RSS