Taiwan’s president has said the threat the island faces from China is “increasing every day” and that she believes the US would come to its aid in the event of an invasion.
Tsai Ing-wen said a small number of US forces were in Taiwan to train soldiers, confirming the presence of American troops on the self-governing island that China considers its own.
Tensions between Taiwan and China, which has not ruled out taking the island by force, have escalated in recent weeks as Beijing raised military and political pressure.
“I do have faith given the long-term relationship that we have with the US and also the support of the people of the US as well as the Congress,” Ms Tsai said in an interview with CNN that aired Thursday. “The administration has been very helpful.”
US department of defence records show troops on the self-ruled island, which Beijing considers a breakaway province that must be brought under its control, rose to 32 this year from 10 in 2018, CNN reported.
“We have a wide range of cooperation with the US aiming at increasing our defence capability,” Ms Tsai said, adding that the “ threat from China is increasing every day”.
Asked how many US service members are deployed in Taiwan, she said only that it was “not as many as people thought”.
The confirmation comes as China is sharply increasing military pressure on Taiwan, including repeated missions by Chinese warplanes in Taiwan’s air defence identification zone.
While several Taiwanese and international media outlets have previously reported such training with US troops, official confirmation could further aggravate US-China relations at a time when Beijing is carrying out muscular military exercises near Taiwan.
Frequent interactions
Asked about Ms Tsai’s comment, Taiwan defence minister Chiu Kuo-cheng told reporters Taiwan-US military interactions were “quite a lot and quite frequent” and had been going on for a long time.
“During these exchanges, any topic can be discussed,” he said.
However, he added that Ms Tsai did not say that US forces are permanently based, or garrisoned, in Taiwan. “There is no connection between personnel exchanges and the stationing of troops,” Mr Chiu said.
The United States withdrew its permanently based forces in Taiwan when it severed diplomatic ties with Taipei in favour of Beijing in 1979. Taiwan does though send its F-16 pilots to be trained in the United States.
The United States, like most countries, has no formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan but is its most important international ally and main arms supplier.
Ms Tsai has said Taiwan is an independent country and repeatedly vowed to defend its democracy and freedom.
Asked about reports about US troops in Taiwan, the Chinese foreign ministry said earlier this month that the United States should cease military ties and arms sales to Taiwan to avoid damaging bilateral relations. – Reuters/Blooomberg