By Trevor Hunnicutt and Kanishka Singh
WASHINGTON (News) – The leader of Taiwan’s National Security Council has come to the U.S. for discussions with President Donald Trump's administration, according to an insider privy to the information released on Friday. This development comes just days following China’s completion of military exercises surrounding Taiwan.
Joseph Wu headed a delegation for what is referred to as the "special channel," according to an earlier report from the Financial Times. This marked Trump’s initial utilization of this channel since he returned to the White House on January 20.
Earlier this week, China's armed forces wrapped up two days of military exercises near Taiwan. These included extensive live-fire maneuvers conducted in the East China Sea, signaling an intensification of such activities surrounding the island.
Taiwan has criticized China for conducting the drills. The United States, which lacks official diplomatic ties with Taiwan but remains its primary international backer and weapons provider, also condemned the recent military maneuvers earlier this week.
Taiwan represents just one aspect of the tensions between the United States and China, which have faced numerous challenges including human rights concerns, the origin of COVID-19, and trade tariffs, with new measures introduced by Trump earlier this week.
This week, Trump's tariffs disturbed Taiwan as well, which deemed them unjustifiable.
Trump has also been critical of Taiwan for taking U.S. semiconductor business, saying he wants the industry to re-base to the United States. Taiwan's top security official has said the Trump administration's support for Taiwan remains "very strong."
China has intensified its criticism against Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te, referring to him as a "parasite" on Tuesday. This escalation comes following U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s tour of Asia, where he consistently condemned Beijing.
The White House and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the U.S. did not promptly reply to requests seeking their input.
China considers democratic Taiwan as part of its territory and has consistently condemned Lai as a "separatist." Despite winning an election last year, Lai disputes Beijing’s assertions of sovereignty and asserts that only the residents of Taiwan have the right to determine their political fate.
Since 1949, Taiwan has faced the constant threat of potential military action from China. This was following the defeat of the Republic of China government in the civil war against Mao Zedong’s communist forces, which subsequently retreated to the island. Despite this longstanding tension, the two factions have refrained from engaging in significant armed conflict over recent decades.
(Trevor Hunnicutt and Kanishka Singh reported; additional reporting by David Brunnstrom; edited by Sandra Maler and Stephen Coates)