The appearance of a senior Taiwanese officer at a military exercise in Alaska has attracted widespread attention on the island, where many see it as a signal that there may be closer defence cooperation with the United States in future.
Analysts said the move also suggested the US would stick to its security commitments despite US President Donald Trump’s transactional approach towards Washington’s allies in the region.
The exercise, Red Flag Alaska 25-2, is one of the US Air Force’s largest annual air combat drills designed to sharpen coordination between regional allies.
This year’s edition, conducted over two weeks from June 12, brings together 1,500 personnel and 70 aircraft from the US, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines and other countries.
Taiwan did not take part in the drills, but Major General Wu Chia-hsing, head of the air force’s flight training division, joined the exercise as an observer.
A photograph released by the Pentagon-supported Defence Visual Information Distribution Service (DVIDS) showed Wu in a suite standing alongside uniformed senior officers in front of two F-22 stealth fighters and a C-17 transport aircraft at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska.
