Taiwan's military ties with diplomatic allies in Central and South America are strong because of help the Taiwan military has rendered to these countries over the past few decades.
The military's most recent help to Taiwan's diplomatic allies in that region was to give five UH-1H transport helicopters to Paraguay, although they were near the end of their useful lives.
The military also plans to give newer helicopters such as AH-1Ws and OH-58Ds to Taiwan's diplomatic allies there if it is able to acquire replacements for them from the US over the next few years.
The donation of military hardware is just one form of assistance that the military has offered to these countries. It also sends personnel to these countries to help train their special forces. The military police, for instance, have been sending two officers each year to El Salvador to help train the president's bodyguards.
The two military police officers are selected from an elite unit of the service -- the special operation team known as the "Nighthawks."
The Nighthawks are the military's only remaining unit whose job is purely to deal with terrorism and plane hijackings.
Two similar units were disbanded in recent years as a result of the "Chingshih" personnel streamlining project.
Besides training assistance, the military offers educational opportunities to cadets from Taiwan's allies in the area.
At suburban Taipei's Fuhsinkang College (
A military official, who graduated from the Fuhsinkang College, said many political and military leaders of Taiwan's allies in Central and South America had come to Taiwan to attend the class. The official declined to reveal numbers attending.
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