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.
Photo: CNA
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.
The International Industrial Talents Education Special (INTENSE) Program to attract foreigners to study and work in Taiwan will provide scholarships and a living allowance of up to NT$440,000 per person for two years beginning in August, Minister of Education Pan Wen-chung (潘文忠) told a meeting of the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee yesterday. Pan was giving an update on the program’s implementation, a review of universities’ efforts to recruit international students and promotion of the Taiwan Huayu Bilingual Exchanges of Selected Talent (BEST) program. Each INTENSE Program student would be awarded a scholarship of up to NT$100,000 per year for up to
BASIC OPERATIONS: About half a dozen navy ships from both countries took part in the days-long exercise based on the Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea An unpublicized joint military exercise between Taiwan and the US in the Pacific Ocean last month was carried out in accordance with an international code, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said yesterday. According to a Reuters report citing four unnamed sources, the two nations’ navies last month conducted joint drills in the Western Pacific. The drills were not made public at the time, but “about half-a-dozen navy ships from both sides, including frigates and supply and support vessels, participated in the days-long exercises,” Reuters reported, citing the sources. The drills were designed to practice “basic” operations such as communications, refueling and resupplies,
‘MONEY PIT’: The KMT’s more than NT$2 trillion infrastructure project proposals for eastern Taiwan lack professional input and financial transparency, the DPP said The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus yesterday said it would ask the Executive Yuan to raise a motion to oppose the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus’ infrastructure proposals and prepare to file for a constitutional interpretation if the KMT-dominated legislature forces their passage. The DPP caucus described the three infrastructure plans for transportation links to eastern Taiwan proposed by the KMT as “three money pit projects” that would cost more than NT$2 trillion (US$61.72 billion). It would ask the Executive Yuan to oppose public projects that would drain state financial resources, DPP caucus secretary-general Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) said. It would also file for
SELF-SUFFICIENCY: The project would only be the beginning, as Taiwan needs at least 120 satellites to ensure uninterrupted communication, Wu Tsung-tsong said The Taiwan Space Agency (TASA) yesterday said it plans to launch six low Earth orbit satellites starting in 2026 as part of the government’s plan to boost the resilience of the nation’s communications. The development of the technology gained attention after Ukrainians were able to access the Internet through Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) CEO Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite service, despite their infrastructure being severely damaged in the war with Russia. Two of the satellites would be built by the government, while four would involve cooperation between TASA and private contractors. “Over the past 30 years, the satellite technology in Taiwan has