Hosting foreign military advisers is within the scope of regular exchanges, Minister of National Defense Chiu Kuo-cheng (邱國正) said yesterday after a US defense media outlet said that US Army Special Forces are to be deployed for training missions in Kinmen and Penghu counties.
Speaking on the sidelines of a legislative session, Chiu told reporters that the armed forces conduct exchanges with foreign militaries to find “blindspots and flaws” in Taiwan’s defense preparations and design, and “to learn from the strengths of others.”
As for the report’s claim that Taiwan’s Aviation and Special Forces Command has proposed buying the Black Hornet Nano, a micro drone that the US military uses, Chiu said there were “no specific talks on procuring arms” in connection with the presence of the US military advisers.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
SOFREP, an online outlet founded by US special operations veterans, on Friday last week said that Washington has launched a “significant military collaboration” with Taiwan involving the deployment of special forces in Kimen and Penghu.
Citing the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act, SOFREP said that a growing presence of a liaison element is currently in Taiwan to plan for deploying small detachments of the 1st Special Forces Group’s 2nd Battalion.
The detachments, consisting of three soldiers each, are to become permanent training observers of Taiwan’s elite Airborne Special Service Company and the 101st Amphibious Reconnaissance Battalion, the report said.
The US advisers would be involved in regular training exercises, creating joint operational guidelines and training manuals, and providing instructions for operating the Black Hornet Nano, which Taiwan plans to buy from the US via direct military sale, it said.
The US’ plans mark a departure from the previous practice of dispatching frequent, but impermanent training and observation missions to Taiwan, it said.
Asked to comment at a routine news conference, Ministry of Foreign Affairs North American Affairs Department Director-General Wang Liang-yu (王良玉) said that the “six assurances” and the Taiwan Relations Act form the basis of US security guarantees to the nation, which remain strong.
The ministry has no additional comment on the content of the report, she added.
Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a fellow at the Institute of National Defense and Security Research, was cited as saying that the US Army Special Forces are known for their defensive prowess.
The integration of the US special forces into Taiwan’s special reconnaissance and amphibious operations units would augment the nation’s capability to counter incursions by hostile forces, the report cited him as saying.
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
BEIJING’S ‘PAWN’: ‘We, as Chinese, should never forget our roots, history, culture,’ Want Want Holdings general manager Tsai Wang-ting said at a summit in China The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday condemned Want Want China Times Media Group (旺旺中時媒體集團) for making comments at the Cross-Strait Chinese Culture Summit that it said have damaged Taiwan’s sovereignty, adding that it would investigate if the group had colluded with China in the matter and contravened cross-strait regulations. The council issued a statement after Want Want Holdings (旺旺集團有限公司) general manager Tsai Wang-ting (蔡旺庭), the third son of the group’s founder, Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明), said at the summit last week that the group originated in “Chinese Taiwan,” and has developed and prospered in “the motherland.” “We, as Chinese, should never
‘A SURVIVAL QUESTION’: US officials have been urging the opposition KMT and TPP not to block defense spending, especially the special defense budget, an official said The US plans to ramp up weapons sales to Taiwan to a level exceeding US President Donald Trump’s first term as part of an effort to deter China as it intensifies military pressure on the nation, two US officials said on condition of anonymity. If US arms sales do accelerate, it could ease worries about the extent of Trump’s commitment to Taiwan. It would also add new friction to the tense US-China relationship. The officials said they expect US approvals for weapons sales to Taiwan over the next four years to surpass those in Trump’s first term, with one of them saying
INDO-PACIFIC REGION: Royal Navy ships exercise the right of freedom of navigation, including in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, the UK’s Tony Radakin told a summit Freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific region is as important as it is in the English Channel, British Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Tony Radakin said at a summit in Singapore on Saturday. The remark came as the British Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier, the HMS Prince of Wales, is on an eight-month deployment to the Indo-Pacific region as head of an international carrier strike group. “Upholding the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and with it, the principles of the freedom of navigation, in this part of the world matters to us just as it matters in the
RSS