TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan has dispatched a senior security official to Washington to re-engage with the Donald Trump administration as tensions with China weigh on the relationship, Nikkei Asia reported Saturday.
Chao I-hsiang (趙怡翔), the new deputy secretary-general of the National Security Council, held a private session with US think tank experts and met separately with figures close to the Trump team, according to people familiar with the trip. The White House has not confirmed whether he met administration officials.
Sources said Chao stressed Taiwan’s rising defense budget and commitment to asymmetric capabilities. In August, President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) pledged to raise defense spending to 5% of GDP by 2030, with next year’s budget already set to reach 3.32%, the highest in years.
Chao is no stranger to Washington. He previously led the political section at Taiwan’s de facto embassy during Trump’s first term. His new role signals Taipei’s intent to open a fresh channel at a time of uncertainty over Trump’s priorities.
The outreach comes after a difficult summer. In August, the Trump administration discouraged Lai from transiting through New York on his way to Latin America, prompting the president to postpone the trip. Chao’s mission included testing the waters for rescheduling that visit to Paraguay, Guatemala, and Belize.
Relations with Paraguay remain a priority. In September, Lai received credentials from Paraguay’s new ambassador, who conveyed that President Santiago Pena looks forward to his visit. Chao is expected to keep that agenda alive while gauging Washington’s political mood.
The timing is delicate. Trump has said he will meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping at the upcoming APEC summit in South Korea and travel to China early next year. Beijing is expected to press Trump to go further than past administrations by explicitly stating US opposition to Taiwanese independence.
Meanwhile, trade tensions are mounting. Since August, Taiwanese goods have been hit with a 20% US tariff as the two sides struggle to secure a trade deal. US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has floated relocating half of Taiwan’s chip production to the US, a proposal Taipei quickly rejected.
The outreach effort comes against criticism in Washington and Taipei. An opinion piece by former US State Department adviser Christian Whiton, widely circulated in Taiwan, argued that Lai’s DPP has failed to understand the New Right in the US.
He argued that Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim’s (蕭美琴) call for democracies to unite against authoritarianism clashes with Trump’s base, which views Ukraine aid as costly and misguided.
Whiton said with Trump preparing for a high-profile China visit, Taiwan is unlikely to see major arms sales or transits approved in the near term. “Major arms shipments and a major transit are going to be secondary,” he noted, adding that Trump wants either a trade or security deal with Xi.
