Taiwan's security chief in US as China escalates pressure with war drills

Days after China wrapped its war drills surrounding Taiwan, a person familiar with the situation said Friday that the chairman of Taiwan’s National Security Council has arrived in the United States for discussions with President Donald Trump’s administration.

Joseph Wu was leading a group to a meeting known as the “special channel,” according to the Financial Times. It was Trump’s first use of the channel since returning to the White House on January 20.

Taiwan’s representative office in Washington confirmed the claims but did not provide any other details.

Earlier this week, China’s military conducted two days of war games outside Taiwan, including long-range, live-fire drills in the East China Sea, signalling an increase in operations around the island.

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China has stepped up rhetoric against Taiwan President Lai Ching-te, calling him a “parasite” on Tuesday in the wake of U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s Asia visit, during which he repeatedly criticised Beijing.

The White House and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

China views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and has repeatedly denounced Lai as a “separatist”. Lai, who won election last year, rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims and says only Taiwan’s people can decide their future.

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Taiwan has denounced China for holding the drills. The United States, Taiwan’s most important international supporter and main arms supplier despite the lack of formal diplomatic relations, condemned the latest exercises earlier this week.

Taiwan is only one area of tension between the United States and China whose ties have been tested by multiple issues such as human rights, the origins of COVID-19 and trade tariffs, including measures put in place by Trump this week.

Taiwan has lived under the threat of Chinese invasion since 1949 when the defeated Republic of China government fled to the island after losing a civil war with Mao Zedong’s communists, though the two sides have not exchanged fire in anger for decades.