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The Pentagon has been sending particular operations forces to Taiwan for a number of years to assist the nation put together for a potential Chinese language assault.
Individuals aware of the deployments, which contain rotating particular forces for brief durations, mentioned the US was coaching Taiwanese forces partly in reference to the island’s buy of American arms, reminiscent of F-16 fighters.
One particular person mentioned the rotations had been occurring for no less than a decade, and included US marines, military particular forces and navy seals. A second particular person mentioned the transfer was a part of the US effort to assist Taiwan bolster its defences because the risk from China elevated.
The disclosure, which was first reported by The Wall Road Journal, comes amid mounting tensions over Taiwan. China has flown file numbers of warplanes into Taiwan’s “air defence identification zone”.
The Pentagon declined to touch upon the deployments, however mentioned US help for Taiwan was commensurate with the risk from China. American administrations are required beneath the Taiwan Relations Act to assist the island defend itself.
“The PRC has stepped up efforts to intimidate and strain Taiwan and different allies and companions, together with growing navy actions performed within the neighborhood of Taiwan, East China Sea and South China Sea,” mentioned John Supple, a Pentagon spokesperson.
On Friday, China’s international ministry mentioned that when Washington established diplomatic relations with Beijing in 1979, it agreed to have solely “cultural, enterprise and different non-official relations with Taiwan”.
“The US ought to know clearly the excessive sensitivity of the Taiwan subject . . . and lower navy [links] with Taiwan,” a ministry spokesperson mentioned.
Heino Klinck, a Taiwan and China skilled who served as a senior Pentagon Asia official in the course of the Trump administration, mentioned the deployments had been “routine and by no means out of the odd”.
“The US and Taiwan have a sturdy and longstanding unofficial military-to-military relationship that features troops coaching collectively, normally beneath the auspices of a international navy gross sales association,” mentioned Klinck.
The Biden administration has repeatedly informed Beijing that US relations with Taipei had been “rock strong” to warn China of the dangers of taking navy motion towards Taiwan. US considerations have mounted as Chinese language air and naval navy exercise has grown more and more assertive within the area.
Taiwan’s defence minister this week mentioned China could be absolutely able to invading the nation by 2025, within the first public warning about the potential of struggle.
“For many years, Beijing has claimed to be pursuing a peaceable path to resolving the Taiwan query. Clearly, China has not adopted by way of on this pledge,” mentioned Ivan Kanapathy, a China skilled at CSIS, a think-tank, who served as a White Home Asia official within the Trump administration.
Bonnie Glaser, a China skilled on the German Marshall Fund, mentioned the deployments weren’t a shock as a result of a social media publish exhibiting US particular forces coaching Taiwanese troops had emerged in the course of the Trump period. However she mentioned the disclosure might elevate tensions.
“Making this public will compel the Chinese language to react, and they’ll probably achieve this by stepping up strain on Taiwan,” mentioned Glaser.
“Given how a lot they’ve ratcheted up strain up to now week, we should always fear that they are going to wish to ship a stronger sign, and subsequently do one thing extra destabilising than merely improve the variety of sorties round Taiwan.”
Further reporting by Xinning Liu in Beijing
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