TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has reportedly expressed interested in cooperating with Taiwan's Military Intelligence Bureau (MIB).

During the high-level Taiwan-U.S. "Monterey Talks" held on June 20 this year in Annapolis, Maryland, the CIA invited the director of the MIB, Arthur Yang (楊靜瑟), to attend the event for the first time, expressing the hope of direct intelligence exchanges and cooperation between the two agencies, reported UDN. The Ministry of National Defense (MND) has not responded to requests for comment on the matter.

National Security Council (NSC) Secretary-General Wellington Koo (顧立雄) led a delegation to meet with Ely Ratner, assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs. Koo's delegation included his deputy York Chen (陳文政) and MND Vice Minister Bo Hung-hui (柏鴻輝), while the U.S. side included representatives from the state department and national security council.

The news agency cited sources that Yang, who rose through the ranks of the Air Force, was invited to attend the meeting for the first time. After the meeting, he was reportedly invited to visit the headquarters of the CIA.

The CIA then reportedly expressed to Yang interest in establishing direct intelligence cooperation with the MIB. However, when Yang returned to Taiwan to report the matter, the MND ultimately ruled that the MIB must file a special case report, and it must undergo review before conducting information exchanges.

Taiwan's counterpart to the CIA is the National Security Bureau (NSB). Currently, U.S. requests for information gathered through intelligence research and exchange must be coordinated by the NSB, which then allocates the task to its affiliated intelligence agencies, such as the MIB.