Taiwan’s top national security official, Joseph Wu, has arrived in the United States for a series of secret high-level meetings with the Trump administration, as China intensifies its military activity around the island.
Wu, who previously served as Taiwan’s foreign minister and now acts as national security adviser, is leading a delegation for a confidential dialogue via the long-running but rarely discussed “special channel” — a backdoor diplomatic forum for strategic consultations between Taipei and Washington. Friday’s meeting marks the first time the channel has been used since Donald Trump returned to the White House in January.
Although the U.S. has not maintained formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan since 1979, when it normalized relations with Beijing, informal and strategic communications have continued behind closed doors. The “special channel,” first revealed by the Financial Times in 2021, remains one of the most sensitive mechanisms of coordination between the two governments.
The secretive nature of the channel is intended to avoid provoking Beijing, which claims sovereignty over Taiwan and has routinely condemned U.S.-Taiwan relations. Under Washington’s long-standing “One China” policy, the U.S. acknowledges — but does not accept — Beijing’s claims over Taiwan.
Wu’s visit comes at a time of heightened tensions in the Taiwan Strait. This week, China’s People’s Liberation Army and Coast Guard launched large-scale exercises around the island, with maneuvers that U.S. officials fear could serve as cover for a future invasion.
“These are not just drills,” Admiral Samuel Paparo, head of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, warned earlier this year. “They are rehearsals for the forced unification of Taiwan.”
U.S. and Taiwanese officials are increasingly concerned about China’s rapid military modernization and assertive behavior. The meetings held this week likely focused on enhancing Taiwan’s defensive capabilities, intelligence sharing, and joint strategic planning in the face of potential aggression from Beijing.
While specifics of the meeting have not been disclosed, such sessions typically involve senior officials from the U.S. National Security Council, State Department, and Department of Defense. However, recent turmoil within the NSC may have impacted this week’s dialogue. Several officials were dismissed by President Trump in recent weeks, following internal tensions and political pressure from hardline factions in his administration.
One key figure, Ivan Kanapathy — the NSC’s lead official on Asia — was reportedly under scrutiny and potentially sidelined from the talks, though sources confirmed he was still working at the NSC as of Friday.
The Taiwanese delegation’s visit was quietly conducted outside Washington, D.C., in accordance with long-standing protocols that bar Taiwan’s foreign and defense ministers from entering the U.S. capital. The meetings are believed to have taken place in neighboring Virginia or Maryland, as has been customary in past instances.
Neither the White House nor Taiwan’s de facto embassy, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office, have commented on the talks.
This is the first “special channel” meeting since the election of Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te in January 2024. Wu and Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung last visited Washington in August 2024, shortly after Lai’s inauguration, to establish initial contact with the Trump administration.
