US sends special forces to train Taiwan’s troops on island bases
The United States has sent special forces to bases on islands controlled by Taiwan that are likely to be on the front line if China was to invade, officials have admitted.
Reports of US troops training the Taiwanese armed forces were confirmed by Taiwanese Defence Minister Chiu Kuocheng.
The reports mentioned the islands of Kinmen and Penghu, the first of which is less than 5km off the coast of China’s Fujian province, though the minister did not specify which “outlying islands” were involved.
“The military may have some blind spots and shortcomings, and therefore it is important to communicate with others who are friendly to us,” Chiu said in response to a question posed by local media.
He said there was an “exchange” with the US for “mutual observation, to identify the problems we have, figure out how to improve and to recognise their strengths so we can learn from them”.
Assessments differ as to the likelihood of armed conflict over Taiwan, which is self-governing and an ally of the US but is claimed by the Chinese government, which has said reunification with the mainland is “inevitable”.
Admiral John Aquilino, head of the US Indo-Pacific Command, told a congreswsional hearing on Thursday that China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) would be militarily prepared to attack Taiwan by 2027, a date often mentioned as a target for reunification under Chinese President Xi Jinping.
“All indications point to the PLA meeting President Xi Jinping’s directive to be ready to invade Taiwan by 2027,” Aquilino said. “Furthermore, the PLA’s actions indicate their ability to meet Xi’s preferred timeline to unify Taiwan with mainland China by force if directed.”
He said the relationship between China and Russia, along with other “adversarial” states such as North Korea, posed an increasing challenge.
“These adversarial regimes are increasingly interconnected, which is evident in Xi and (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s declaration of a ‘no-limits friendship’.”
The Pentagon has not confirmed the details of US deployments to Taiwan.
It was only in 2021 that Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen admitted for the first time that any US troops had ever been sent to the island.
Yet reports suggest that US special forces are, among other things, training their Taiwanese counterparts in the use of a small specialist drone, the Black Hornet Nano, which the Taiwanese military may be purchasing from the US.
Kinmen and its surrounding smaller islands are 145km from Taiwan, and particularly sensitive owing to their location off the coast of Fujian.
Taiwan was settled by the Chinese during the Qing dynasty in the 17th century, then seized by Japan. It became part of the Republic of China, as it was then known, in 1945, after Japan was defeated in World War II.
When China’s ruling Kuomintang or Nationalist Party was defeated by Mao Zedong’s communists in the Chinese Civil War, its leaders fled to Taiwan, establishing a rival administration.
In 1949, a PLA assault on Kinmen, as a precursor to an invasion of Taiwan, failed.
The US, along with most Western governments, rejects China’s demand for reunification without the consent of Taiwan’s residents, but has been deliberately ambiguous about whether it would come to the country's defence in the face of an attack.
US President Joe Biden, however, has been clearer than his predecessors that he might order US troops to war with China if necessary.
China says its preference is for “peaceful reunification” and has hinted, with similar ambiguity, that it would only invade if Taiwan formally declared independence.
“The Asia-Pacific region is a highland of peace and development, not an arena for geopolitical competition,” a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said in response to Aquilino’s comments. “It is the US, not China, that stirs up confrontation and division in the Asia-Pacific.” – The Times