Up to 200 troopers will reportedly head to the island to coach its army towards a hypothetical ?Chinese invasion?
Washington is planning to ship between 100 and 200 troops to Taiwan “in the coming months,” the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing nameless officers. The personnel might be tasked with coaching the Taiwanese army towards what was described as a “rising threat from China.”
The deployment will greater than quadruple the US army presence on the island, in keeping with the Journal. According to the Pentagon’s Defense Manpower Data Center, there have been 23 American troopers in Taiwan as of autumn 2022.
These Americans have been performing as advisers and trainers for the US weapons and tools despatched to Taipei. The new troops can even prepare the Taiwanese in techniques “to protect against a potential Chinese offensive,” in keeping with unnamed US officers.
There had been additionally Taiwanese troops within the US, with “a contingent” coaching alongside the Michigan National Guard within the north of that state, the Journal reported. When reached for remark, the Pentagon stated solely that the US “commitment to Taiwan is rock-solid.”
“We don’t have a comment on specific operations, engagements, or training, but I would highlight that our support for, and defense relationship with, Taiwan remains aligned against the current threat posed by the People’s Republic of China,” Army Lieutenant Colonel Marty Meiners, a Pentagon spokesman, informed the Journal.
The expanded coaching is meant to “thwart a possible invasion by China,” and has been deliberate for months, lengthy earlier than this month’s incident with the Chinese “spy balloon,” officers who spoke to the Journal stated. They additionally do not imagine it quantities to “anywhere close to a tipping point” for Beijing.
“One of the difficult things to determine is what really is objectionable to China,” one official stated.
China has repeatedly warned the US towards arming Taiwan and warned Washington to abide by the treaties and agreements governing their relationship. The US used to acknowledge Taipei because the “Republic of China” however switched that recognition to Beijing in 1978, adopting a One-China coverage.
Taiwan has been some extent of rivalry between China and the US since 1949, when the Communists received the civil conflict towards the Kuomintang. The Americans helped evacuate the defeated nationalists to the island, which was liberated in 1945 from 50 years of Japanese rule.
The People’s Republic of China has pointed to Taiwan’s standing as Chinese territory for over 200 years earlier than it was ceded to Japan as a conflict trophy in 1895. Beijing seeks to reunite what it calls a renegade island with the mainland, ideally by peaceable means.
(RT.com)