U.S. May Be Ramping Up Military Support of Taiwan

April 18, 2022, 2022 (EIRNS)—In Taiwan, local military sources told the news outlet Focus Taiwan, the English central news agency, that about 200 U.S. military advisors are working with the Taiwanese military. According to the sources, the American advisors have been primarily assigned to boot camps and reserve brigades to observe Taiwan’s protocols and provide practical consultations on training methods. The inputs from the U.S. advisors will be later used to help Taiwan formulate better training when mandatory military service is extended to one year in 2024, the sources added.

Bloomberg, meanwhile, reports that Taiwan will be buying 400 ground-launched Harpoon anti-ship missiles. Taiwan has previously purchased ship-launched versions of the Harpoon, which is made by Boeing Company. Now, a contract with Boeing issued on Taiwan’s behalf by the U.S. Naval Air Systems Command marks a first for the mobile, land-launched version, according to Rupert Hammond-Chambers, president of the U.S.-Taiwan Business Council.

Bloomberg cites House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul as saying that the Harpoon deal is part of a backlog of as much as $19 billion in arms sales to Taiwan. The list includes the F-16 Block 70 fighter, the MK-48 torpedo, the M109A6 Paladin self-propelled howitzer, and the Stinger shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missile.

Recall former German Chancellor Angela Merkel and former French President François Hollande admitting that they used the Minsk phony peace process to give Ukraine time to build up its military capability against Russia.