Taiwan plays down US troop presence as Pentagon boosts support

TAIWAN has emphasised there are no US troops “stationed” on the island after the Pentagon said it planned to increase its presence there, the latest sign of Washington’s willingness to raise the ire of China. 

“The information is from US media, and we don’t know where it comes from. Our exchanges with the US have been non-stop because we get our weapons and equipment from the US,” Defence Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng said when asked about the plans. 

“No US troops are stationed in Taiwan,” he said without commenting on the broader presence of the US military.

The US is increasing its small contingent of troops in Taiwan to train local forces, an American defence official said, signalling the Biden administration’s support for the island democracy. Its presence would grow to between 100 and 200 troops, up from about 30 a year ago, the Wall Street Journal reported earlier on Thursday. 

“We don’t have a comment on specific operations, engagements or training, but I would highlight that our support for, and defence relationship with, Taiwan remains aligned against the current threat posed by the People’s Republic of China,” Lieutenant Colonel Marty Meiners, a Pentagon spokesman, said in an email. The State Department later offered the same response.

Despite the defence ministry’s denial that US troops are permanently stationed in Taiwan, President Tsai Ing-wen confirmed in an interview with CNN in 2021 that the US does have troops on the island for training purposes.

The latest development is only likely to add to the strain in US-China relations, which have frayed in the months since President Joe Biden met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Indonesia and tried to set ties on a more stable path.

Tensions have risen since the US identified, and then shot down, what it says was a Chinese spy balloon that crossed the US mainland. China denounced the action against what it says was a wayward weather balloon. 

The balloon journey led to Secretary of State Antony Blinken postponing a planned trip to China for long-awaited meetings. And when the top US diplomat met his counterpart Wang Yi in Germany, the two traded barbs over everything from the balloon and Taiwan to North Korea and potential Chinese support for Russia’s war in Ukraine.

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There’s also a lack of top-level military-to-military communications between the two sides. In early February, shortly after shooting down the balloon, the Chinese declined a request from Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin to speak to his Chinese counterpart Wei Fenghe.

At the same time, the Biden administration is under pressure from US lawmakers of both parties to bolster US arms and aid to counter a potential future effort by China to seize Taiwan, which China claims. BLOOMBERG