Taiwan's deputy foreign minister made secret trip to Israel

11/12/2025 16:30

Taiwan's high-profile Deputy Foreign Minister Francois Wu made a previously unpublicised visit to Israel recently, three sources familiar with the trip told Reuters, at a time when Taiwan is looking to the country for defence cooperation.



Taiwan has few formal diplomatic ties due to pressure from Beijing, which views the island as one of its provinces and not a country. Like most other countries, Israel only officially recognises Beijing and not Taipei, and while senior Taiwanese diplomats do travel abroad, trips to countries such as Israel are rare.



Still, Taiwan views Israel as an important democratic partner and offered strong support to the country after the October 2023 Hamas attack on southern Israel and subsequent war in Gaza, and since then there has been an increased level of engagement.



The sources, speaking on condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the matter, told Reuters that Wu had gone to Israel in recent weeks. Two of the sources said the trip happened this month.



The sources declined to give details of whom he met or what was discussed, including whether he touched upon Taiwan's new multi-layered air defence system called T-Dome, which President Lai Ching-te unveiled in October and is partly modelled on Israel's air defence system.