In the days when intrusions into the Taiwan Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) by Chinese warplanes reached an unprecedented level, news came out in the Wall Street Journal that US special forces and Marines have provided training for Taiwan special forces for at least one year.
According to the WSJ – which cited US government officials – about thirty special operations soldiers and some support units are stationed in Taiwan to provide military training to ground forces; while the Marines are working with the naval forces of Taiwan in “training small boats” – possible that among the tasks also that of preparing the Taiwanese for a possible Chinese invasion of the island.
The news, not denied, and part of the story is how the level of Washington’s involvement is rising alongside Taipei; military agreements of various kinds are known between the two countries, which had already infuriated China – which considers Taiwan a rebel province to be reinstated at any cost, even by force. The issues concerning the island off the Fujian coast are becoming a very sensitive center of friction between the two powers.
Shortly after the release of the WSJ article, Politico published a piece in which he quoted a Pentagon official who confirmed the presence of US troops acting as advisors to local perhaps, and added that they are “increasing their efforts” in the country. The site has also collected the opinion of several members of Congress (the news is important) and these have basically made it clear that they are not aware of the deployment, probably governed by the secrecy with which the special forces move, but to be nonetheless d agreement to provide assistance to Taiwan.
American training for Taiwanese forces had already been talked about last November – about the arrival of the Marines, but in that circumstance the Pentagon had denied. Just as for some time we have been talking about the increase in military spending on the island – according to what is called the “hedgehog strategy”, devised by Washington to build a defense capacity that makes Taiwan impenetrable. Part of this tightening of military spending is also the push for the domestic armaments industry with Taiwanese lawmakers adding $ 9 billion to the 2022 defense budget.
At the same time, the underlying theme behind military training links and other links, as well as the technical and specific aspects, is this: the more Taiwan builds ties (of any kind), the more difficult it will be for China to eradicate it from its independent dimension. acquired and reinstate it. Although, despite all the differences, the Hong Kong precedent tells the opposite (or perhaps also in light of the Hong Kong precedent that with Taiwan things could be different
). Also with a view to these ties, four French senators and former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott
arrived in Taipei in recent days . The two delegations, welcomed separately by President Tsai Ing-web, show that despite the diatribe about Aukus, Western interest is coordinated. The double, unprecedented Franco-Australian visit could be followed shortly by an Italian one: Undersecretary Gian Marco Centinaio told Foglio that he will soon go to Taiwan. “We cannot think that Taiwan will help you when we need it, when it is necessary to produce more microchips to make cars or to buy companies in difficulty, and then when we need to recognize its autonomy and its freedom we hide. behind the veil of hypocrisy, ”says Hundred – who had already been to Taiwan as a parliamentarian, but would now go as a member of the government and the visit would be of another level (and perhaps the Chinese reaction as well).
