"The Marines have landed, and the situation is well in hand."
These were the words of the war correspondent Richard Harding Davis in 1885. Marines worldwide are known as much for their intense institutional pride -- some call it arrogance -- as they are for their fighting abilities.
Taiwan's Marines are no less proud than their counterparts elsewhere, and according to US House Resolution 437, in which two congressmen proposed asking Taiwan to send 5,000 Marines to Iraq, the Republic of China Marine Corps has a "deserved reputation throughout the Far East for their high level of training and motivation."
This may be true, but regardless of their reputation, sending Taiwan's Marines to Iraq would be folly of the first order. The idea has all the hallmarks of a creative political strategy destined for tactical failure. In short, it is worse than useless.
If representatives Dana Rohrabacher and Jim Ryun sincerely want to boost the US' relationship with Taiwan, they should propose something a little less provocative and a little more realistic.
Neither the US' nor Taiwan's interests would be served by sending Taiwan's military to participate in the coalition's effort in Iraq. What both countries do need is a Taiwanese military capable of credibly defending Taiwan. Politicians come and go, but foreign policy blunders are forever.
A far better idea would be to start sending large numbers of Taiwan's junior and mid-level officers and non-commissioned officers (NCOs) to attend the various war and staff colleges in the US.
This is not because Taiwan is incapable of training its own personnel, but rather because the US' commitment to provide for Taiwan's defense under the Taiwan Relations Act is vital to Taiwan's survival. And for the US to successfully assist in the defense of Taiwan requires two things: making sure that Taiwan is able to defend itself during the initial stages of a Chinese assault, and ensuring that Taiwan can successfully carry out combined arms operations, possibly in concert with the US and whatever allies decide to lend a hand (read: Japan).
Taiwan's ability to defend itself during the initial stages of an attack has been called into question by many military observers. According to a host of reports, Taiwan will be qualitatively surpassed by the People's Liberation Army in the next few years. So, what better way to signal that the US and Taiwan are committed to defending the nebulous "status quo" -- which is anything but -- than to have the US provide extensive training to Taiwan's military?
Furthermore, joint force and combined arms operations -- that is, different types of combat units working together to achieve the same goal -- are not to be taken lightly. Combat units in the US spend hundreds of training hours practicing joint ops. It requires a great deal of training and practice to effectively carry out combined arms operations.
It is difficult to coordinate thousands of disparate units on a battlefield of moderate proportions, even when they speak the same language and use much of the same equipment, and it doesn't take much to imagine how difficult joint combat operations between Taiwanese and US forces would be in the Taiwan Strait or, God forbid, in Taiwan itself.
The US regularly conducts joint training operations with dozens of nations, but it isn't likely that Taiwan will be invited to any major regional joint-training operations in the near future. The next best thing would be to have Taiwanese service members -- especially junior officers and NCOs -- training alongside their US counterparts in professional military courses on a large scale.
Don't send Taiwan's Marines to Iraq. Send them to the Amphibious Warfare School in Quantico, Virginia.
Mac William Bishop, a former US Marine, is an editor at the Taipei Times.
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