US forces train Taiwanese: official

ACCELERATE SUPPORT?
The Pentagon official said the exercises had lasted less than a year, after similar reports were denied in November last year.

US Special Operations Forces have been quietly training Taiwanese soldiers for months, risking China’s wrath, a US Department of Defense official said on Thursday.

A contingent of around 20 special operations and conventional forces have been providing the training for less than a year, said the official, who declined to be identified, adding that some of the instructors alternated between them.

The official broadly confirmed a Wall Street Journal article that a US special operations unit and a contingent of US Marines secretly trained military forces in Taiwan to help bolster the country’s defenses, as concerns grow over possible Chinese aggression.

In Taipei, the Department of National Defense yesterday declined to comment on the Wall Street Journal report, and the American Institute in Taiwan, the de facto U.S. embassy in the country, only referred to US Department of Defense without commenting further.

Prime Minister Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said that “a just cause always attracts a lot of support.”

“We are doing everything we can to defend our national sovereignty and our people, as well as to maintain regional peace. We are doing everything we can and we appreciate that like-minded countries are working together, ”he said.

Pentagon spokesman John Supple said that, as a rule, US support for the Taiwanese military is assessed against its defense needs.

Supple declined to comment on the details of the report, but said US support for Taiwan remains “strong, principled and bipartisan,” in line with the US’s “one-China” policy and commitments. long-standing, as reported in the Taiwan Relations Act report, the three joint communiques and the “six assurances”.

“Our support and defense relationship with Taiwan remains aligned with the current threat posed by the People’s Republic of China,” Supple said in a statement.

“We urge Beijing to honor its commitment to the peaceful resolution of disputes between the two sides of the strait,” he added.

The United States will continue to support a peaceful resolution of the cross-strait issues, in accordance with the wishes and best interests of the people on both sides, he said.

In November last year, local media reported that US troops had arrived in the country to train Taiwanese navies and special forces in small craft and amphibious operations.

This information was later denied by US and Taiwanese officials, who said the two sides are only involved in bilateral military exchanges and cooperation.

The United States is supplying Taiwan with weapons, including defense missiles and fighter jets, as Beijing threatens to forcibly annex the nation.

The United States also maintains an ambiguous commitment to defend Taiwan.

Additional reports from CNA and Lin Chia-nan