The US is set to expand the number of troops helping train Taiwanese forces, two US officials said on Thursday, although the White House declined to comment on the details.
Reuters in 2021 reported that a small number of US special operations forces have been rotating into Taiwan on a temporary basis to train the military.
The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the Pentagon was expected to increase that number in the coming months.
Photo: CNA
One of the officials said the exact number of increased troops was unclear.
“Our support for and defense relationship with Taiwan remains aligned against the current threat posed by the People’s Republic of China and consistent with our ‘one China’ policy. That has not changed,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said when asked about the report in a daily news briefing.
“Our commitment to Taiwan contributes to the maintenance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and within the region,” she said.
On the decision to send more troops to Taiwan, Jean-Pierre said questions on specific troop numbers should be referred to the US Department of Defense, which had yet to respond to the report as of Thursday night.
Speaking to reporters in Taipei yesterday, Minister of National Defense Chiu Kuo-cheng (邱國正) said he “did not know” the source of the information about expanded training.
He said that Taiwan and the US have substantial military interaction, which naturally includes personnel coming to teach how to use equipment the US sells to Taiwan.
However, it does not involve stationing troops in Taiwan, Chiu added.
The Wall Street Journal earlier on Thursday reported that the US was markedly increasing the number of troops deployed to Taiwan to bolster a training program for the military.
“The US plans to deploy between 100 and 200 troops to the island in the coming months, up from roughly 30 there a year ago,” the report said, citing US officials.
The larger force would expand a training program the Pentagon has taken pains not to publicize as the US works to provide Taipei with the capabilities it needs to defend itself without provoking Beijing, the report said.
The planned increase would also be the largest deployment of forces in decades by the US in Taiwan, as the two draw closer to counter China’s growing military power, the report said.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated in an online discussion on Thursday why the US felt the stakes in the Taiwan Strait were so high.
He said the high concern over a crisis across the Taiwan Strait exists because it is not an internal matter, as China frames it.
“It’s a matter of concern to quite literally the entire world,” he told Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic as they reviewed the implications of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Half of all commercial container traffic goes through that waterway every day, Blinken said, adding that most of the semiconductors that the world needs are produced in Taiwan.
“If there were a crisis in Taiwan as a result of China’s aggression in some fashion, that would have, I think, disastrous consequences for the world economy and for countries around the world, and that’s a message, too, that Beijing is hearing increasingly,” Blinken said.
LONG FLIGHT: The jets would be flown by US pilots, with Taiwanese copilots in the two-seat F-16D variant to help familiarize them with the aircraft, the source said The US is expected to fly 10 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Block 70/72 jets to Taiwan over the coming months to fulfill a long-awaited order of 66 aircraft, a defense official said yesterday. Word that the first batch of the jets would be delivered soon was welcome news to Taiwan, which has become concerned about delays in the delivery of US arms amid rising military tensions with China. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the initial tranche of the nation’s F-16s are rolling off assembly lines in the US and would be flown under their own power to Taiwan by way
CHIP WAR: The new restrictions are expected to cut off China’s access to Taiwan’s technologies, materials and equipment essential to building AI semiconductors Taiwan has blacklisted Huawei Technologies Co (華為) and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯), dealing another major blow to the two companies spearheading China’s efforts to develop cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) chip technologies. The Ministry of Economic Affairs’ International Trade Administration has included Huawei, SMIC and several of their subsidiaries in an update of its so-called strategic high-tech commodities entity list, the latest version on its Web site showed on Saturday. It did not publicly announce the change. Other entities on the list include organizations such as the Taliban and al-Qaeda, as well as companies in China, Iran and elsewhere. Local companies need
CRITICISM: It is generally accepted that the Straits Forum is a CCP ‘united front’ platform, and anyone attending should maintain Taiwan’s dignity, the council said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it deeply regrets that former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) echoed the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “one China” principle and “united front” tactics by telling the Straits Forum that Taiwanese yearn for both sides of the Taiwan Strait to move toward “peace” and “integration.” The 17th annual Straits Forum yesterday opened in Xiamen, China, and while the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) local government heads were absent for the first time in 17 years, Ma attended the forum as “former KMT chairperson” and met with Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Wang Huning (王滬寧). Wang
OBJECTS AT SEA: Satellites with synthetic-aperture radar could aid in the detection of small Chinese boats attempting to illegally enter Taiwan, the space agency head said Taiwan aims to send the nation’s first low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite into space in 2027, while the first Formosat-8 and Formosat-9 spacecraft are to be launched in October and 2028 respectively, the National Science and Technology Council said yesterday. The council laid out its space development plan in a report reviewed by members of the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee. Six LEO satellites would be produced in the initial phase, with the first one, the B5G-1A, scheduled to be launched in 2027, the council said in the report. Regarding the second satellite, the B5G-1B, the government plans to work with private contractors