Contrary to a recent news report, there are no US special forces permanently stationed in Kinmen County, US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral John Aquilino said on Wednesday, adding that there were “absolutely” plans to create a “Home Guard” in Taiwan.
Aquilino refuted the report when he was asked during a US House of Representatives Committee on Armed Services hearing whether US “Green Berets” have been stationed permanently in Kinmen to train Taiwanese troops.
The question, raised during the hearing on the US’ military posture in the Indo-Pacific region, cited the US military news outlet SOFREP, which reported earlier this month that military instructors from the US Army Special Forces had “started to take up permanent positions” at the Taiwanese army’s amphibious command centers in Kinmen and Penghu.
Photo: AP
The missions of the US forces there include regular training and exercises alongside Taiwan’s elite forces, and those deployments had been made in line with the US 2023 National Defense Authorization Act, the report said.
Responding to lawmakers’ questions on the issue, Aquilino said the information was inaccurate.
“Let me just say the article is incorrect. There is no permanent stationing of US forces there,” he said. “We can talk in a classified setting for further evaluation, but that is just inherently inaccurate.”
Also during the hearing, US Representative Matt Gaetz expressed concern over the possible infiltration of Taiwan’s military by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and the consequences of such a scenario.
“I worry whether or not we’re gonna be able to rely on the uniformed service there [in Taiwan],” Gaetz said. “So, is there a plan at the [US] Department of Defense to kind of make these assessments about a Home Guard and ensure that you have small arms in the hands of these people that might deter a Chinese invasion?”
Aquilino said there “absolutely” is such a plan, but he would prefer to discuss it in a classified setting.
In a prepared statement, Aquilino also testified that all signs suggest Beijing is sticking to ambitions to be ready to invade Taiwan by 2027.
China is building its military and nuclear arsenal on a scale not seen since World War II, he said.
In the three years since he took command, the PLA has added more than 400 fighter aircraft, more than 20 major warships and doubled its inventory of ballistic and cruise missiles since 2020, he said.
The Chinese military has also been rehearsing various tasks linked to operations against Taiwan such as simulating an encirclement with a maritime and air blockade, Aquilino said.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
CLASH OF WORDS: While China’s foreign minister insisted the US play a constructive role with China, Rubio stressed Washington’s commitment to its allies in the region The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday affirmed and welcomed US Secretary of State Marco Rubio statements expressing the US’ “serious concern over China’s coercive actions against Taiwan” and aggressive behavior in the South China Sea, in a telephone call with his Chinese counterpart. The ministry in a news release yesterday also said that the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs had stated many fallacies about Taiwan in the call. “We solemnly emphasize again that our country and the People’s Republic of China are not subordinate to each other, and it has been an objective fact for a long time, as well as
‘CHARM OFFENSIVE’: Beijing has been sending senior Chinese officials to Okinawa as part of efforts to influence public opinion against the US, the ‘Telegraph’ reported Beijing is believed to be sowing divisions in Japan’s Okinawa Prefecture to better facilitate an invasion of Taiwan, British newspaper the Telegraph reported on Saturday. Less than 750km from Taiwan, Okinawa hosts nearly 30,000 US troops who would likely “play a pivotal role should Beijing order the invasion of Taiwan,” it wrote. To prevent US intervention in an invasion, China is carrying out a “silent invasion” of Okinawa by stoking the flames of discontent among locals toward the US presence in the prefecture, it said. Beijing is also allegedly funding separatists in the region, including Chosuke Yara, the head of the Ryukyu Independence
UNITED: The premier said Trump’s tariff comments provided a great opportunity for the private and public sectors to come together to maintain the nation’s chip advantage The government is considering ways to assist the nation’s semiconductor industry or hosting collaborative projects with the private sector after US President Donald Trump threatened to impose a 100 percent tariff on chips exported to the US, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday. Trump on Monday told Republican members of the US Congress about plans to impose sweeping tariffs on semiconductors, steel, aluminum, copper and pharmaceuticals “in the very near future.” “It’s time for the United States to return to the system that made us richer and more powerful than ever before,” Trump said at the Republican Issues Conference in Miami, Florida. “They
GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY: Taiwan must capitalize on the shock waves DeepSeek has sent through US markets to show it is a tech partner of Washington, a researcher said China’s reported breakthrough in artificial intelligence (AI) would prompt the US to seek a stronger alliance with Taiwan and Japan to secure its technological superiority, a Taiwanese researcher said yesterday. The launch of low-cost AI model DeepSeek (深度求索) on Monday sent US tech stocks tumbling, with chipmaker Nvidia Corp losing 16 percent of its value and the NASDAQ falling 612.46 points, or 3.07 percent, to close at 19,341.84 points. On the same day, the Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Sector index dropped 488.7 points, or 9.15 percent, to close at 4,853.24 points. The launch of the Chinese chatbot proves that a competitor can
RSS