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
Taiwanese actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has died of pneumonia at the age of 48 while on a trip to Japan, where she contracted influenza during the Lunar New Year holiday, her sister confirmed today through an agent. "Our whole family came to Japan for a trip, and my dearest and most kindhearted sister Barbie Hsu died of influenza-induced pneumonia and unfortunately left us," Hsu's sister and talk show hostess Dee Hsu (徐熙娣) said. "I was grateful to be her sister in this life and that we got to care for and spend time with each other. I will always be grateful to
REMINDER: Of the 6.78 million doses of flu vaccine Taiwan purchased for this flu season, about 200,000 are still available, an official said, following Big S’ death As news broke of the death of Taiwanese actress and singer Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛), also known as Big S (大S), from severe flu complications, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and doctors yesterday urged people at high risk to get vaccinated and be alert to signs of severe illness. Hsu’s family yesterday confirmed that the actress died on a family holiday in Japan due to pneumonia during the Lunar New Year holiday. CDC Deputy Director-General Tseng Shu-hui (曾淑慧) told an impromptu news conference that hospital visits for flu-like illnesses from Jan. 19 to Jan. 25 reached 162,352 — the highest
TAIWAN DEFENSE: The initiative would involve integrating various systems in a fast-paced manner through the use of common software to obstruct a Chinese invasion The first tranche of the US Navy’s “Replicator” initiative aimed at obstructing a Chinese invasion of Taiwan would be ready by August, a US Naval Institute (USNI) News report on Tuesday said. The initiative is part of a larger defense strategy for Taiwan, and would involve launching thousands of uncrewed submarines, surface vessels and aerial vehicles around Taiwan to buy the nation and its partners time to assemble a response. The plan was first made public by the Washington Post in June last year, when it cited comments by US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue
Suspected Chinese spies posing as Taiwanese tourists have been arrested for allegedly taking photographs of Philippine Coast Guard ships, local media reported. The suspected spies stayed at a resort in Palawan, where from a secluded location they used their phones to record coast guard ships entering and leaving a base, Philippine TV network GMA said on Wednesday. Palawan is near the Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島) and other disputed areas of the South China Sea, where tensions have been on the rise between China and the Philippines. The suspects allegedly also used drones without permission and installed cameras on coconut trees in the
RSS