{"id":58580,"date":"2021-10-28T10:59:36","date_gmt":"2021-10-28T10:59:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/uncategorized\/2021\/10\/28\/us-troops-on-taiwan-confirms-island-nations-president-confident-america-would-defend-it\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T12:07:41","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T12:07:41","slug":"us-troops-on-taiwan-confirms-island-nations-president-confident-america-would-defend-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/flashpoints\/2021\/10\/28\/us-troops-on-taiwan-confirms-island-nations-president-confident-america-would-defend-it\/","title":{"rendered":"US troops on Taiwan, confirms island nation\u2019s president, confident America would defend it"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) \u2014 Taiwan\u2019s President Tsai Ing-wen confirmed in an interview with CNN<\/a> that aired Thursday the presence of U.S. troops on the island and said that she was confident the U.S. would defend Taiwan if China made a move against the island.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI do have faith given the long term relationship we have with the U.S. and also the support of the people of the U.S. as well as Congress,\u201d Tsai said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tsai said the presence of a small number of U.S. troops on the island is to help train their Taiwanese counterparts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her comments come after the Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month that a U.S. special-operations unit and a contingent of Marines <\/a>have been secretly operating in Taiwan to train military forces there, U.S. officials told the paper it was part of efforts to shore up the island\u2019s defenses as concern regarding potential Chinese aggression<\/a> mounts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In her interview with CNN, Tsai \u201cbecame the first Taiwan president in decades to acknowledge the presence of US troops on the island for training purposes. The last official US garrison left in 1979, the year Washington switched formal diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing<\/a>, <\/b>though last year media reports hinted at small deployments.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to CNN, \u201cthe US military posted and then deleted<\/a> a video in early 2020 that showed US Army Special Forces training soldiers in Taiwan. In November 2020, Taiwan\u2019s Defense Ministry announced and then denied <\/a>to local media that US troops were training local soldiers on the island.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tsai didn\u2019t tell CNN exactly how many US military personnel are on the island at present but said it was \u201cnot as many as people thought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have a wide range of cooperation with the US aiming at increasing our defense capability,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taiwan\u2019s defense minister, however, said Thursday that the island must defend itself and not depend entirely on others for help if China were to launch an attack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe country must rely on itself, and if any friends or other groups can help us, then it\u2019s like I said before, we\u2019re happy to have it, but we cannot completely depend on it,\u201d the minister, Chiu Kuo-cheng, told reporters after being questioned in the legislature as part of a session on national defense.<\/p>\n\n\n\t