00:00U.S. and Taiwan defense officials met quietly in Alaska last week.
00:05The meeting came just days before China's military parade,
00:08and months after a higher-level meeting in the U.S. was canceled,
00:12allegedly due to U.S.-China trade talks.
00:15The Financial Times reports that Jet Royal,
00:17the Pentagon's top Indo-Pacific official,
00:20met in Anchorage with Xi Sijian,
00:22then Taiwan's Deputy National Security Advisor.
00:26Xi last week was elevated to a more senior role
00:28working with Taiwan's National Security Advisor.
00:32He is viewed as the leading contender
00:33to become Taiwan's next ambassador to Washington.
00:37One legislator says regular communication benefits both sides.
00:41At the same time, Taiwan's proposed 2026 defense budgets
00:58reveals a breakthrough in military dialogue with the U.S.
01:02Taiwan and the U.S. currently hold annual monetary talks,
01:06defense review talks, and a political and military dialogue.
01:09But it will now be adding a new defense policy project meeting
01:13as the top platform for bilateral defense issues.
01:17Taiwan's Defense Ministry plans to send a delegation
01:19of up to 32 officials to the U.S. to attend.
01:22Defense analysts say the new meeting is meant to clarify
01:41how the U.S. and Taiwan would act in scenarios
01:44such as a Chinese invasion or blockade,
01:47and to coordinate responses so U.S. support is more effective.
01:50Some say holding the meeting in Alaska was a way
01:54to keep things low-key, especially after reports
01:57that Taiwan's Defense Minister Wellington Koo
01:59had to cancel a U.S. visit back in June.
02:02The meeting also came as Taiwan gets ready
02:05to review its next year's defense budget,
02:07which sets aside more than 3% of GDP.
02:11Ryan Wu and Ellen Lu in Taipei for Taiwan Plus.
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