FT: US, Taiwan conduct secret defence talks in Alaska

Last week, secret talks took place in Alaska between representatives of the U.S. and Taiwan defence ministries, the Financial Times (FT) reported, citing sources.

According to the publication, the discussions followed the cancellation of a high-level meeting between U.S. and Taiwanese officials that had been scheduled for June in Washington. The Taiwanese delegation was to be led by the island’s Defense Minister Wellington Koo.

The meeting in Anchorage was conducted by Jed Royal, the Pentagon’s Indo-Pacific representative, and Hsu Szu-chien, Taiwan’s deputy national security adviser.

One U.S. official told FT that the decision to hold the meeting in Alaska at a lower level was a deliberate attempt to keep the talks low-profile and avoid jeopardising a potential summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

By Vugar Khalilov