US says 41 military personnel in nation
A total of 41 US military personnel were stationed in Taiwan as of December last year, a US congressional report said on Friday last week ahead of Tuesday’s passage of an aid package that included US$8 billion for Taiwan.
The Congressional Research Service in a report titled Taiwan Defense Issues for Congress said that according to the US Department of Defense’s Defense Manpower Data Center, 41 US military personnel were assigned for duty in Taiwan.
Although the normalization of relations with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in 1979 included a vow to withdraw a military presence from Taiwan, “observers have indicated that it is an ‘open secret’ that small numbers of US military personnel conduct work in an advisory capacity” in Taiwan, it said.
US defense officials have said they “do not have a comment on specific operations, engagements or training” related to engagements with Taiwan, the report said.
The Wall Street Journal in February last year reported that the US was to send 100 to 200 military training personnel to Taiwan “in the coming months,” which was not confirmed by officials on either side.
In February, US military news Web site SOFREP reported that US Green Berets were permanently stationed in Kinmen County to train Taiwanese forces, which US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral John Aquilino denied.
SOFREP also highlighted challenges within Taiwan in relation to its defense, saying that there is an apparent lack of trust between elected leaders and the military, which has traditionally been aligned with the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).
It also said that there was vulnerability in the nation’s energy, food, water and Internet supply, and it struggles to recruit, train and retain personnel.
“At a societal level, it is not clear what costs — in terms of economic security, physical safety and security, and lives — Taiwan’s people would be willing or able to bear in the face of possible PRC armed aggression,” SOFREP said.
The US and Taiwan “appear to be quietly expanding training activities,” while outlining recent and pending arms transfers to Taiwan, it added.
In other news, progress on stationing a US munitions stockpile in Taiwan is unclear, but there is an “approximate plan” in place, Minister of National Defense Chiu Kuo-cheng (邱國正) said yesterday in response to questions about whether Washington is moving forward with plans to move its East Asia stockpile to Taiwan.
Chiu was responding to a question from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) about progress regarding the alleged stockpile.
On March 6 last year, Chiu told lawmakers that Taipei was “in talks” with the US military on moving its East Asia stockpile to Taiwan.
Chiu yesterday told a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign and National Defense Committee that the issue must be approached with caution, as it involves sensitive political considerations.
There are many ways to define a “stockpile,” he said, adding that the nature of armaments and weaponry is vastly different.
If it were a maintenance center, there would naturally be spare parts and equipment sent in, he said, adding that everything is still in the proposal stage and is open to discussion.