A US military delegation will come to Taiwan in November to evaluate the combat strength of the marine corps, which is widely considered to be the strongest branch of the armed forces, sources said yesterday.
The delegation will evaluate the marine corps' overall combat capabilities based on its training and operations.
The evaluation is expected to be used in US government deliberations on which weapons it should sell Taiwan to help strengthen the nation's marines.
But it might also be used by pro-China elements in the US government to argue that it is not worthwhile for the US to sell weapons to Taiwan, since the country's military is too weak to defend against a Chinese attack.
Similar evaluations have been made by the US military over the past few years of Taiwan's air force, navy and army.
These evaluations exposed a number of problems that the US hadn't suspected.
The navy, for instance, was found to have a lower combat strength that expected, which prompted the US to propose the sale of four Kidd-class destroyers.
In its evaluation of the air force, the US discovered that its aircraft shelters could not withstand aerial attacks.
If the marine corps turns out to as poorly as the other three services, it could have serious consequences on future US policy, said a defense official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
"The US government might start to consider whether Taiwan is still worth saving," the official said. "Our understanding is that the US will send troops to defend Taiwan only when Taiwanese troops can withstand attacks from China for some time on its own.
"There are various estimates of the time that Taiwan's military can defend against China's attacks on its own. Some say three days. Some say a week. Either would not be enough for the US to prepare for deployments of troops to the Taiwan Strait," he said.
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