Sources say Taiwan’s navy chief will visit the United States next week

Taiwan’s navy chief Tang Hua will visit the United States next week to attend a military ceremony and discuss ways to strengthen bilateral naval cooperation amid threats from China, six people familiar with the matter said.

While Taiwan and the United States have close ties, the relationship is unofficial because Washington officially recognizes China rather than the democratically governed island that Beijing claims as its own territory. Taiwan rejects China’s territorial claims.

Six security sources said Tang will visit Hawaii, home to the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, to attend a Pacific Fleet change of command ceremony. Three of them said Tang was expected to attend the Sea, Air and Space Conference near Washington from April 8 to 10 and that negotiations were ongoing to arrange a meeting with Chief of Naval Operations Lisa Franchetti. will meet.

The sources spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the trip.

Taiwan’s navy and Pentagon declined to comment.

China’s Ministry of National Defense did not respond to a request for comment. China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that it firmly opposes “military collusion” between the United States and Taiwan and that Washington should not “send any wrong signals to Taiwan independence separatist forces.”

Unlike public visits to the United States by senior officials from allies such as Japan and Britain, visits by Taiwanese officials, especially military officials, are kept low-key and often without official confirmation.

Washington and Taipei have not had formal diplomatic or military ties since the United States switched recognition to Beijing in 1979, although the United States is legally obliged to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself.

China has not given up the use of force to occupy Taiwan. In 1949, the Republic of China government lost the civil war to the Communist Party led by Mao Zedong and established the People’s Republic of China. After its defeat, it fled to Taiwan.

Taiwan’s navy is dwarfed by China, which is adding nuclear-powered submarines and aircraft carriers. Taiwan is developing its own submarines under a modernization effort overseen by President Tsai Ing-wen, with the first one unveiled last year.

Taiwan and the United States have quietly expanded military cooperation since Tsai Ing-wen came to power in 2016, especially since China began to increase military pressure over the past four years. Beijing now regularly sends fighter jets across the midline of the Taiwan Strait, which once served as an unofficial barrier.

Senior Taiwanese officials have visited the United States before, including then-Navy Chief Lee Hsi-ming in 2015 and Deputy Defense Minister Xu Yanpu, who attended a Taiwan-U.S. defense industry conference in Virginia last year.

Taiwan usually holds annual security talks in the United States, but neither government has officially confirmed that Taiwan’s foreign minister and National Security Council chairman attended the talks last year, according to Taiwan media reports.

Two sources said Tang’s visit is part of the United States’ “Joint Island Defense Concept” plan to coordinate with Taiwan, Japan and other countries to counter China’s armed forces within the “first island chain.” Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines and Borneo, an island between Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei.

A U.S. official source said Taiwan and the United States are trying to arrange a meeting between Don-Franchetti, but the meeting has not been confirmed.

Tang accompanied Tsai Ing-wen on Tuesday to a naval base on Taiwan’s east coast to attend a handover ceremony for two new Tuojiang-class frigates, which Taiwan’s navy calls “carrier killers” because of their high maneuverability, stealth and anti-ship missiles.