Taiwanese defense chief Chiu Kuo-cheng told the press this week that US military special forces are now permanently stationed in the country as tensions with China rise.
“According to reports from Taiwan’s United Daily News (UDN), US Army Green Berets from the 1st Special Forces Group are now permanently stationed at bases of the 101st Amphibious Reconnaissance Battalion, a special operations force of the Taiwanese Army, located in the remote island provinces of Penghu and Kinmen. Remarkable, Kinmen is just over a mile from the Chinese coast,” Kuo-cheng said.
He added: “In addition, reports suggest a US military presence in the northeastern city of Taoyuan on Taiwan’s main island, with service members providing specialized training on drone equipment for Taiwan’s elite Airborne Special Service Company.”
This is the first public acknowledgment that US troops have been in Taiwan since 1979.
During a House Committee hearing on the Indo-Pacific region, the US military’s Indo-Pacific commander Admiral John C. Aquilino denied reports of the Special Forces stationed in Taiwan.
However, Admiral Aquilino said he could tell Congress more in a classified environment.
Things are undoubtedly heating up in the region as Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense unveiled Thursday it had detected 32 Chinese military aircraft flying near the island in a 24-hour period.