Taiwan’s President, Tsai Ing-wen, confirmed on Thursday (28) that American soldiers are on the island to train local forces, information released earlier this month by The Wall Street Journal, according to which more than 20 members US special operations personnel and a contingent of Marines have been in Taiwanese territory for more than a year.
In an interview with the American network CNN, Tsai stated that “there is extensive cooperation with the US to increase the defense capacity [de Taiwan]”. Asked about the number of soldiers, she said only that “there were not as many as people thought.”
The confirmation comes as China, which considers the island a rebel province, has increased military pressure on Taiwan — in the first week of October, Beijing carried out the largest air raid in its history against Taipei’s defenses, boosting the tension with the autonomous island.
“There must be absolutely no illusions that the Taiwanese people will bow to pressure,” Tsai said during a public address on Oct. 10, when Taiwan’s National Day is celebrated.
The day before, Chinese leader Xi Jinping had said that the island’s separatism “is the greatest obstacle to achieving the reunification of the motherland and the most serious hidden danger to national rejuvenation.”
On CNN, the president appealed to regional partners such as Japan, South Korea and Australia for support of the island. “When authoritarian regimes demonstrate expansionist tendencies, democratic countries must unite to confront them, and Taiwan is at the forefront.”
Tsai added that the attempts to strengthen the island’s military forces did not mean abandoning the desire to improve diplomatic relations with Beijing and that he would sit down with Xi to talk — if he wants to. “We have repeatedly said that we want to have a dialogue with China and that this is the best way to avoid misunderstandings and misjudgments in relations.”
Asked by reporters about the president’s comments, the island’s defense minister, Chiu Kuo-cheng, tried to put on warm cloths. He said US forces are not permanently based in Taiwan, even though military interactions with Washington are “very numerous and frequent” and have been going on for a long time.
Washington withdrew its forces from a permanent base in Taiwan when it cut diplomatic ties with Taipei in favor of Beijing in 1979. Like most countries, the US has no formal ties with the island, but is the most important international ally, with informal cooperations, like the military.
China promptly criticized the confirmation of the American presence on the island. “We are firmly opposed to any form of official exchange and military contacts between the US and Taiwan,” Chinese diplomats spokesman Wang Wenbin said. “The US must not underestimate the Chinese people’s strong determination to defend their sovereignty and national integrity.”
Chinese analysts interviewed by Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post described the confirmation of the presence of US troops as the island’s willingness to make clear to the international and domestic communities its strategic partnership with the US and warned that the announcement should add a layer of tension in the relationship with Beijing.
A former PLA (China People’s Liberation Army) instructor and now a military commentator, Song Zhongping understands that the president’s statement was a serious provocation to Beijing, but that the PLA should not act rashly in its dispute with the Americans . “This is a political and military provocation, and China is likely to step up preparations for a military fight with the US.”
Wang Kung-yi, director of the think tank Taiwan International Strategy Study Society, reckons Tsai’s message has served as a kind of checkmate for Washington on its use of the policy of “strategic ambiguity” — through that approach, the US has not they formally challenge Beijing’s alleged sovereignty over Taiwan, but say they are committed to ensuring the island can defend itself.
“Tsai felt it was time to gradually transform ambiguity into clarity, which she believed would help promote Taiwan’s security,” Wang said.
Last week, US President Joe Biden said the country “has a commitment” to defending Taiwan — a speech rejected by the Chinese. Days earlier, Washington had confirmed the holding of a military exercise with Canada in the Taiwan Strait.
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