More than 500 Taiwanese troops participated in Northern Strike, a joint military exercise held in Michigan, US military newspaper Stars and Stripes reported yesterday.
The exercise ran throughout Michigan’s Great Lakes region from Aug. 2 to Saturday, featuring 7,500 participants across all branches of the US armed forces, as well as nine international partners.
Although officials did not comment on Taiwanese participation, the report cites an Aug. 4 briefing at which a defense official reportedly confirmed that 500 troops from Taiwan were set to participate, and a presentation slide which indicated that forces from Taiwan have participated since at least 2021.
Photo: Liu Yu-chieh, Taipei Times
In a departure from previous editions, this year’s exercises simulated a conflict in the Indo-Pacific, reflecting the US Department of Defense’s concern about tensions in the region, the report said.
“As we’ve seen the national priority shift ... we need to align and plan for that region,” the report cited a US Army official as saying.
The region’s geography allowed them to “replicate” the island environments US forces would have to fight in, the report cited another official as saying.
This included exercises such as resupplying at sea, delivering supplies to islands and operating aircraft out of dispersed island bases in the Indo-Pacific, the report said.
For example, the report describes the US Air Force using new corrosion-resistant materials to repair runways as part of “contingency” planning.
In August 2023, five Chinese students from the University of Michigan were caught spying at the camp that hosts the exercise, the report said, although arrest warrants remain outstanding on charges of conspiracy and lying to investigators.
Defense expert Mei Fu-hsing (梅復興) said that last year’s Northern Strike exercise also saw live-fire tests of loitering munitions, demonstrating increasing cooperation between the US and Taiwan.
US military sources said that senior Taiwanese military officials and representatives were present to observe the tests, he said.
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