Major threat in the UR - Yuuzhan Vong?

I know this has been discussed before - whether the threat that the Chiss were converned with was the Vong or not, but as far as I'm aware there is no official word on it.

However, I was just reading a Del Rey interview with Tim Zahn

Q:I was surprised by Thrawn's character in Outbound Flight. He seems too smart and basically decent to become the servant of Palpatine that he later becomes.

TZ: Ah, but is he really Palpatine?s servant? My sense has always been that he was manipulating Palpatine just as much as Palpatine is manipulating him. After all, he only came to the Empire so that he could gain command rank, collect all the military hardware Palpatine was willing to give him, and then get himself kicked back out to the Unknown Regions where he could start his long-term preparations for the coming war against the Yuuzhan Vong.

Is this the first time we've heard author word on this?

 

Outbound Flight more or less confirms that was the threat.

 

Cheers, I haven't read it yet . This thread can now die...