A clandestine US Navy special missions unit colloquially known as SEAL Team 6 has been training for missions to assist Taiwan’s defense against an attack by China, the Financial Times said in a report yesterday.
The navy commando team famous for killing Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan, has been conducting training to take part in a Taiwan conflict at its Dam Neck headquarters in Virginia Beach for more than one year, it said, citing sources familiar with the matter.
“The secret training underlines the increased US focus on deterring China from attacking Taiwan, while stepping up preparations for such an event,” it said.
Photo: AFP
While US officials emphasize that a US-China conflict is “neither imminent nor inevitable,” the Pentagon has hastened to prepare for a Taiwan contingency as Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) modernizes the Chinese People’s Liberation Army to obtain the capabilities to take over Taiwan by 2027, it said.
Seal Team Six 6 is an elite counterterrorist unit with Tier 1 designation under the US Special Operations Command (SOCOM), alongside its US Army counterpart unofficially known as Delta Force, the Financial Times said.
The Pentagon has sent other special operations forces units that compose SOCOM’s fighting arm to Taiwan for missions that include training Taiwanese troops.
The activities of Tier 1 units such as SEAL Team 6 are far more obscure since the missions they perform are classified, it said.
Sources that spoke with the Financial Times did not provide details about the training conducted by SEAL Team 6.
Asked for comment, the SOCOM refered the Fianancial Times to the Pentagaon who declined to discuss the specifics of the training.
“That Seal Team 6 is planning for possible Taiwan-related missions should come as no surprise,” independent defense journalist and author Sean Naylor was quoted as saying.
“With the Pentagon’s reorientation over the past few years to focus on great power competition, it was inevitable that even the nation’s most elite counterterrorism units would seek out roles in that arena, for that path leads to relevance, missions and money,” he said.
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