The U.S. is sending its top China defense official to Taiwan in the coming days, according to the Financial Times — though it’s unclear how Beijing will respond given the softer tone it has adopted in its diplomacy with the U.S. and allies recently.
The deputy assistant secretary of defense for China, Michael Chase, will make the trip “in the coming days,” the newspaper reported, citing four people familiar with the situation.
China appears to have recalibrated its Taiwan strategy in the run-up to a presidential election next year. Officials from Shanghai plan to visit soon, pending approval from the government in Taipei, in what would be the first such visit since before the pandemic started.
