The task of the instructors will be to improve the training of Taiwanese soldiers, the website Taiwan News wrote on Monday. According to the US military, the island’s defense plans against a possible attack by China have a number of shortcomings and are not at the level of modernization that mainland troops are undergoing.
Taiwanese President Tsai Jing-wen already announced last December that, starting next year, conscription on the island will be extended from four months to a year.
The Pentagon has not yet officially confirmed the news of the arrival of new instructors, but if it does, it will be a significant increase in the US military presence in Taiwan. So far, the Americans have had around three dozen soldiers on the island.
The fact that the US has its troops in Taiwan was publicly confirmed by Cai for the first time in 2021 – because the US troops officially withdrew in 1979, when Washington broke off diplomatic relations with Taipei and established them with Beijing instead.
The EU should not turn away from China. However, she is clearly opposed to the use of force in Taiwan, says von der Leyen
Europe
Escalation is not in the EU’s interest
Bloomberg also reported on Tuesday that Taiwan will buy 400 US-made Harpoon anti-ship missiles. The Pentagon announced the contract for the supply of 400 missiles manufactured by the Boeing concern worth 1.17 billion dollars (25 billion crowns) at the beginning of the month, but did not name the buyer at the time.
China sees growing US military support for Taiwan as a provocation, and has repeatedly stressed that the island’s eventual independence is an uncrossable red line for it. In the American policy of containing China, however, Taiwan, with its strategic position on the Chinese coast, plays an irreplaceable role.
However, while the US sees China as its “main rival”, the Middle Kingdom is the most important trading partner for Europe, and many EU states therefore reject the American policy of decoupling from Beijing.
For example, French President Emmanuel Macron, who concluded twenty trade agreements during his visit to China the week before last, warned that the escalation in the Taiwan Strait is not in the interest of Europe, which should not blindly follow the US on this issue. “Being an ally does not mean being a vassal,” he emphasized.
China simulates attacks on foreign military targets near Taiwan
Foreign
