Posted on 02/23/2023 6:23:59 PM PST by SeekAndFind
The United States military is preparing for a possible increase of the number of troops in Taiwan amid worries that China is preparing to invade the territory they have long claimed as theirs.
While Russia continues its invasion of Ukraine and is working on a possible arms deal with China, the Chinese are looking at upping their timetable for a Taiwan invasion, according to reports. As a result, the U.S. is getting ready to drastically increase its presence. Via the Wall Street Journal:
The U.S. plans to deploy between 100 and 200 troops to the island in the coming months, up from roughly 30 there a year ago, according to U.S. officials. The larger force will expand a training program the Pentagon has taken pains not to publicize as the U.S. works to provide Taipei with the capabilities it needs to defend itself without provoking Beijing.
The number of American troops, which has included special-operations forces and U.S. Marines, has fluctuated by a handful during the past few years, according to Defense Department data. The planned increase would be the largest deployment of forces in decades by the U.S. on Taiwan, as the two draw closer to counter China’s growing military power.
Beyond training on Taiwan, the Michigan National Guard is also training a contingent of the Taiwanese military, including during annual exercises with multiple countries at Camp Grayling in northern Michigan, according to people familiar with the training.
According to U.S. officials, the force increase has been planned for months, well before the sudden tensions between the U.S. and China over a suspected spy balloon flew over the U.S. mainland.
The new troops will be tasked with training Taiwan’s military on U.S. weapons systems and tactical maneuvers, possibly indicating that U.S. intelligence feels an invasion is more likely than ever before. This level of coordination has made Chinese officials nervous, according to some reports, with China accusing the U.S. of violating previous promises to remain neutral.
Bkmk
Doesn’t Taiwan have its own army? Don’t the people of Taiwan want to fight for their way of life?
1 of 3 criteria of china invasion according to their published doctrine is american forces move into the island.
Taiwan does not have an administration that appears to be hellbent on endless war.
We do.
This is another foreign policy blunder that does NOT help the underlying situation.
nothing more than a tripwire, like Fulda was...
It’s 200 men. Taiwan has 200,000+ regulars and 2.3 million reservists. Cool your jets.
Pitty all that gear was sent to Ukraine....Taiwan would have been a better destination.
500 or so troops? Yeah, that’ll do the trick. Or serve as tripwire.
P
A “published doctrine” is a piece of paper.
These things are decided in real time according to the current judgement of national leaders
“Taiwan would have been a better destination.”
An Absolute that few know.
Taiwan produces a majority of the worlds semiconductors and micro chips.
That Island falls and this country will be begging in a couple months.
But it is all about Russia and the conflict in THE Ukraine.
Taiwan's elites all have US or Japanese passports.
they budget for a 210K army (180K enlisted, 30K civilian) but lack manpower to reach even 75% of that.
in 2008, they changed the period of military conscription to 4 months. A business-associate's son recently went through it. He went home on weekends, and never fired a rifle one time.
15% of Taiwanese live/work/study in mainland China.
Taiwanese just want to get along and make money, and aren't planning for a fight with China. China's strategy is to offer Taiwanese far more carrots than they are sticks (which really is about formal independence)
I would expect Taiwanese to push back against "ukrainization" of their country.
What Taiwan needs is not = to what was or will be sent to Ukraine. Other than a few bits on the margin.
In particular Taiwan has lots of artillery and ammo to use for its purposes, which will be to crush beach landings. These battles will take hours, not months. And it has 1000+ tanks to shoot up incoming landing craft.
Does South Korea still get 39K US troops guarding its border? How many people do we have guarding the US border? (’boarder’ for those in Rio Linda)
“”Doesn’t Taiwan have its own army? Don’t the people of Taiwan want to fight for their way of life?””
You think that these 100 to 200 people are combat troops to supplement the Taiwanese Army?
Or do you think they are going there to train some people in something, or on something?
23,468
But you could have checked for yourself.
There are enough Border Patrol people to control your southern border. They did just fine under Trump. Your problem is with the orders they are being given.
“”nothing more than a tripwire, like Fulda was...””
Sure, 100 or 200 trainers is just like the Fulda Gap.
“Fulda Gap Is Key Point in NATO Defense Against Soviet Forces”
“the United States maintains 250,000 troops in West Germany, part of a NATO military force of nearly 990,000 personnel, mostly West Germans. Western officials say the Soviet Bloc’s Warsaw Pact has nearly 1.2 million personnel in neighboring East Germany and Czechoslovakia.
The Fulda Gap is the only area in the world where large numbers of U.S. and Soviet soldiers are lined up so close to one another. Backing them on both sides is the savage power of hundreds of medium-range nuclear missiles.”
“commander of the 4,500-man Fulda-based U.S. 11th Armored Cavalry, said in an interview.”
“The Fulda Gap outpost, with its surrounding support bases, is among the 800 U.S. military installations large and small throughout West Germany”
“NATO forces employ 106,000 West German civilians in jobs ranging from cooks to engineers. Of those, about 70,000 are employed by the Americans.
The British, Canadian, French, Belgian, Dutch and West Germans military forces operate air bases, infantry and armored units, hospitals and other NATO facilities along with the Americans.”
well, if they are Marines, mainland China just might be in trouble.
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