TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan’s military cooperation with the US is extensive, Defense Minister Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said on Friday.
Cooperation “is far closer than you might imagine,” he said at a press conference, per a Wall Street Journal report. “The public sees only the arms sales, but in fact, it’s multifaceted and involves so much more,” he said.
“Through military exchanges, we have been learning so much practical combat experience from the US.”
However, the defense minister stressed that Taiwan’s plan for a potential cross-strait conflict does not rely on US military intervention, per WSJ.
“A lot more ‘American English teachers’ will be showing up where they need to be,” Koo said, “But you won’t be able to spot them everywhere they operate.”
“American English teachers” is a term used to refer to US military personnel in Taiwan to avoid highlighting their presence.
Lieutenant General Sun Li-fang (孫立方), defense ministry spokesperson, said that “the ‘American English teachers’ share a lot of real combat experience with us,” according to WSJ.
Lieutenant General Huang Wen-chi (黃文啓), director of the military’s Strategic Planning Department, said, “If you want to know what we actually learned, you just have to look at how much our units have changed during these realistic combat training,” WSJ reported. However, “none of this is something we can talk about publicly,” Huang said.
Expanding military exchanges with the US comes as China is increasing gray-zone activities around Taiwan’s eastern waters. Taiwan tracked 85 Chinese coast guard ships near its maritime borders in May and June, WSJ said. This is approximately a 90% increase compared with the same period last year.
On Friday, Taiwan’s Coast Guard Administration sent the patrol ship Taipei to track two Chinese coast guard vessels operating east of Taitung’s Lanyu island, per Liberty Times. The CGA condemned the incident as a “fake law enforcement, real expansion of power.”
China’s coast guard has become an additional force in China’s plan to pressure and annex Taiwan, WSJ said.
Taiwan kicked off the 10-day Han Kuang 42 military exercise on Wednesday. The live-fire exercise adopts a continuous scenario format to strengthen troops’ ability to respond under realistic battlefield conditions.
The exercise will also assess whether Taiwan can keep key shipping routes open and safely deliver essential supplies. The Navy and Coast Guard will hold joint live-fire drills, including coastal defense operations, maritime law enforcement, and protection of supply ships.
