Top US and Chinese officials were to discuss arms sales to Taiwan at separate meetings in Washington and Beijing yesterday, sources said.
In Washington, Wang Yi (王毅), the director of China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, was scheduled to meet with State Department officials, while in Beijing, US Defense Undersecretary for Policy Michele Flournoy was to head a US delegation in talks with Chinese officials, including People’s Liberation Army deputy chief of staff Lieutenant General Ma Xiaotian (馬嘯天).
Taiwan’s National Security Council Secretary-General Su Chi (蘇起) is believed to have been briefed on the situation during a low-profile visit to Washington late last month.
However, US officials were reluctant to say anything on Monday about the substance or significance of the meetings.
Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs Ian Kelly was asked who would be meeting with Wang and what would be on the agenda.
He said: “You know, I’m not sure. So, if we can get you information, I will get you information.”
Pressed by reporters at the routine daily briefing about “new developments across the Taiwan Strait” he said: “Well, we are — we are very supportive of a lessening of tensions across the strait. And we would — we would welcome further such developments.”
Other well-placed Washington sources confirmed that future arms sales to Taiwan were on the agenda for the meeting with Wang.
Meanwhile, reports from Beijing indicated that Flournoy’s meetings would constitute the 10th annual round of defense consultations on building closer military ties and would mark the resumption of military exchanges between the two countries.
The Chinese Defense Ministry announced in a news release that the two sides would talk about “bilateral military relations, Taiwan issues, international and regional security issues and other issues of common concern.”
The release added: “China attaches great importance to this round of consultative talks and hopes to make concerted efforts with the United States to ensure positive results from the talks.”
Pentagon sources would not confirm that the two sets of meetings were linked, even though they would be going on at the same time.
But a well-connected academic at a Washington-based think tank said, “You would be right in thinking that this is not a coincidence.”
The financial news service Bloomberg reported that Flournoy’s delegation aims to win a resumption of high-level visits by Chinese military officials to Washington, increased cooperation and more open discussion of China’s military buildup.
“The US has expressed concern for years that China is building up its military strength near Taiwan and asserting maritime rights with moves such as harassing the US Navy vessel Impeccable in March. China’s defense spending has increased by more than 16 percent a year for the past decade, according to Chinese government figures,” Bloomberg reported.
Other sources said that aside from Taiwan issues, the Beijing meeting would concentrate on the North Korea nuclear crisis and the North Korean cargo ship Kang Nam, which is being shadowed by the US Navy and is believed to be carrying missiles and related parts to Myanmar in violation of UN sanctions.
Sources speaking on the condition of anonymity said that at both the Washington and Beijing meetings the possible future US sale to Taiwan of F-16 fighter planes, helicopters and diesel submarine technology would be on the agenda.
During his visit to Washington last month, Su discussed cross-strait relations with high-level officials in the administration of US President Barack Obama, including Jeffery Bader, senior director for Asian Affairs at the National Security Council.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY BLOOMBERG
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was questioned by prosecutors for allegedly orchestrating an attack on a taxi driver after he was allegedly driven on a longer than necessary route in a car he disliked. The questioning at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office was ongoing as of press time last night. Police have recommended charges of attempted murder. The legally embattled actor — known for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代) — is under a separate investigation for allegedly using fake medical documents to evade mandatory military service. According to local media reports, police said Wang earlier last year ordered a
President William Lai (賴清德) should protect Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), and stop supporting domestic strife and discord, former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) wrote on Facebook yesterday. US President Donald Trump and TSMC on Monday jointly announced that the company would invest an additional US$100 billion over the next few years to expand its semiconductor manufacturing operations in the US. The TSMC plans have promoted concern in Taiwan that it would effectively lead to the chipmaking giant becoming Americanized. The Lai administration lacks tangible policies to address concerns that Taiwan might follow in Ukraine’s footsteps, Ma wrote. Instead, it seems to think it could
A man in Tainan has been cleared on charges of public insult after giving the middle finger during a road rage incident, as judges deemed the gesture was made “briefly to express negative feelings.” In last week’s ruling at the High Court’s Tainan branch, judges acquitted a driver, surnamed Cheng (程), for an incident along Tainan’s Nanmen Road in September 2023, when Cheng had spotted a place to park his car in an adjacent lane. Cheng slowed down his vehicle to go into reverse, to back into the parking spot, but the car behind followed too closely, as its driver thought Cheng
DEFENSE: The purpose of the exercises is to identify strategies for the government to control risks during tensions, prevent war and bolster national resilience A tabletop exercise series has begun simulating possible scenarios if the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) launched a war against Taiwan in the guise of a military exercise. The exercise series is jointly organized by National Chengchi University’s Institute of International Relations, Taiwan Center for Security Studies and Asia-Pacific Policy Research Association. Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chen Yeong-kang (陳永康), former American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) director William Stanton and Taiwan Center for Security Studies director Liu Fu-kuo (劉復國) attended the event in Taipei yesterday. Scenarios that would be simulated include changing political circumstances in the US during US President Donald Trump’s tenure
RSS