Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) and National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) were in the US this week for closed-door meetings with US officials, the Financial Times reported on Thursday.
Wu and Lin were in the Washington area for talks through a format called the “special channel,” the newspaper cited unnamed sources as saying.
Although the “special channel” was first disclosed by the Financial Times in 2021 when Wu met his US counterpart, senior officials from Taiwan and the US have used the mechanism for years to hold talks, it said.
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
The US government has kept the channel secret to avoid butting heads with Beijing, known for strenuously protesting any sign of diplomatic engagement between Taiwan and other states, it said.
Wu and then-council secretary-general Wellington Koo (顧立雄) met with US officials during the previous “special channel” in February last year, it said.
The security dialogue is usually conducted in the area surrounding Washington, as long-standing practice prevents the nation’s foreign and defense ministers from entering the capital, it said.
Sources did not disclose the location or timing of the talks, the Financial Times said in its report.
The Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office declined the paper’s request for comments, as did the White House.
The special channel is “one of the most sensitive and important mechanisms in global politics today,” Evan Medeiros, a senior fellow at Georgetown University’s Initiative for US-China Dialogue on Global Issues, was quoted as saying.
“The meeting comes at a critical time given Taiwan’s recent election. Clear and consistent communication between Taipei and Washington is essential, especially as People’s Republic of China pressure grows,” Medeiros said.
The “special channel” was important due to limits on contact allowed by the unofficial relationship between Taiwan and the US, the newspaper cited Project 2049 Institute chairman Randall Schriver as saying.
“A lot of people have the impression that [Chinese People’s Liberation Army] military activity spikes around events like the [former US House of Representatives speaker Nancy] Pelosi visit or [presidential] inaugurations, and then enters a normal and steady status quo, but the PLA continues to do more things and evolve. We are seeing more nighttime exercises and things like air-to-air refueling on the eastern side of Taiwan,” Schriver was quoted as saying.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as