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U.S. to undertake largest military deployment in decades in Taiwan

The Pentagon will send between 100 and 200 troops to train and educate Taiwanese soldiers in combat tactics.

Guardia Nacional

The National Guard / Flickr

Published by
Alejandro Baños

The United States will send between 100 and 200 soldiers to Taiwan with the aim of reinforcing the defense of the Asian country to thwart a possible invasion by China. In addition, U.S. troops will train and educate the Taiwanese in combat tactics.

As reported by The Wall Street Journal, the deployment, which would be the largest in decades, will greatly increase the U.S. military presence in Taiwan, which had approximately 30 U.S. troops last year according to Defense Department data. It is not only in Taiwan that Asian troops are being prepared. The Michigan National Guard is training a group of Taiwanese soldiers at Camp Grayling in Grayling, Mich. An administration official questioned how China will take this military deployment:

One of the difficult things to determine is what really is objectionable to China. We don’t think at the levels that we’re engaged in and are likely to remain engaged in the near future that we are anywhere close to a tipping point for China, but that’s a question that is constantly being evaluated and looked at specifically with every decision involving support to Taiwan.

High tension since Pelosi's visit to Taiwan

Tensions between the United States and China over Taiwan escalated after Nancy Pelosi visited the Asian island in August 2022. The former speaker of the House of Representatives said her trip served to reinforce Washington's "unwavering commitment" to Taipei.

From that moment on, Xi Jinping's communist regime increased its military presence with a naval fleet in the South China Sea. The Chinese government called Pelosi's visit a "serious threat to peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait." During his re-election campaign two months after the visit, Xi Jinping threatened to reunify China and Taiwan even if it required doing so by force.

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