The head of Taiwan’s National Security Council arrived in the United States for talks with President Donald Trump’s administration, a source familiar with the matter said on Friday, days after mainland China concluded war games around the island. Joseph Wu was leading a delegation for a meeting known as the “special channel,” the Financial Times reported. It marked Trump’s first use of the channel since returning to the White House on January 20. Earlier this week, the People’s Liberation Army concluded two-day war games around Taiwan in which it held long-range, live-fire drills in the East China Sea, marking an escalation of exercises around the island. Taiwan and the United States have both denounced the drills. Taiwan is only one area of tension between the US and China whose ties have been tested by multiple issues such as human rights, the origins of Covid-19 and trade tariffs. Trump’s latest tariffs this week also upset Taiwan, which called them unreasonable. Trump has also been critical of Taiwan for taking US semiconductor business, saying he wants the industry to relocate to the US. Taiwan’s top security official has said the Trump administration’s support for Taiwan remains “very strong.” Mainland China has stepped up its rhetoric against Taiwanese leader William Lai Ching-te, calling him a “parasite” on Tuesday in the wake of US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth’s Asia visit, during which he repeatedly criticised Beijing. The White House and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Beijing views Taiwan as its own territory and has never renounced the use of force to reunify it with the mainland. In common with most countries, the United States, Taiwan’s most important international supporter and main arms supplier, does not recognise the island as independent but opposes any attempt to seize it by force. Lai, who was elected last year, has said only Taiwan’s people can decide their future. Beijing has repeatedly denounced him as a separatist.