Taiwan-US military cooperation will undergo a major upgrade! Not only are hundreds of U.S. military instructors known as "American English teachers" coming to Taiwan to assist in training, the U.S. Department of War (Defense Department) is about to send official representatives to be stationed at the headquarters of the Ministry of National Defense of my country for a long time. The picture shows the exterior of the Pentagon Building of the U.S. Department of War. (Reuters)
[Reporter Luo Tianbin/Reporting from Taipei] Taiwan-US military cooperation will undergo a major upgrade! Not only are hundreds of U.S. military instructors known as "American English teachers" coming to Taiwan to assist in training, the U.S. Department of War (Defense Department) is about to send official representatives to be stationed at the headquarters of the Ministry of National Defense of my country for a long time!
According to senior military officials, the "Taiwan-U.S. Department of Defense Joint Cooperation Assessment Project" with a budget of NT$470 million (implementation period is from 115 to 117 years) will definitely be upgraded and expanded. The U.S. Department of Defense has decided to directly dispatch expert representatives from the Office of the Undersecretary for Policy (OSW-P) and the defense think tank "The Center for Defense Analysis" (IDA) to plan to send one person from each to the Department of Defense headquarters in Taiwan for a long time. This means that U.S. personnel will directly enter the core of my country's defense decision-making, assist in policy coordination and combat capability assessment, and directly "escalate the military docking between Taiwan and the United States to the highest level."
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In fact, it is no secret that U.S. Department of Defense officials have been stationed in Taiwan for a long time, but in the past they were mostly hidden behind the scenes. For example, the security cooperation group and technical group within the Taipei office of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) are actually composed of active-duty U.S. military officers and defense civilian officials, and specialize in coordinating arms sales and logistics. In recent years, in order to respond to the technological war and the situation in the Taiwan Strait, the "Defense Innovation Unit" (DIU) under the US Department of Defense has already sent liaison officers to AIT, hoping to directly integrate Taiwan's drone and technology supply chain. However, the nature this time is completely different. The US representatives did not stay in the AIT office, but walked directly into the headquarters of our Ministry of National Defense. The nature changed from "external liaison" to "internal decision-making collaboration."
During the Hanguang exercise of the National Army, suspected US military instructors were observing and giving guidance at the exercise field. (File photo)
Senior officials pointed out that the two major units sent by the United States this time can be said to be bigger than the other. The first is the "Office of the Undersecretary for Policy," which is the top think tank of the U.S. Department of Defense in formulating national security and defense strategies. In the future, they will directly assist the policy docking between Taiwan and the United States to ensure that the strategic steps of both sides are completely synchronized. Another unit is the Center for Defense Analysis (IDA), which is the most authoritative top defense think tank funded by the U.S. federal government. Its greatest expertise is the use of scientific big data and mathematical models to conduct complex defense combat simulations. By sending personnel to the headquarters of my country's Ministry of National Defense for a long time, these two big-name units can help the national army introduce the most advanced "brain" of the US military, giving Taiwan's national defense planning more confidence.
Relevant people analyze that this latest arrangement sends a strong signal, that is, Taiwan-US military cooperation has been upgraded from "tactical cooperation training" in the past to "strategic force promotion and planning." In the past, U.S. military instructors taught on the front line how to fight and how to use weapons; now, U.S. representatives directly stationed at our Ministry of National Defense, teaching how to plan overall defense and how to adjust asymmetric combat tactics. The direct presence of such high-level officials is the concrete implementation of the Taiwan Resilience Act and the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) passed by the United States in recent years, showing that Taiwan-US security cooperation is making great strides towards "legalization" and "normalization."
He pointed out that with the immediate arrival of U.S. representatives at the headquarters of our Ministry of National Defense, in the future, when the national military conducts war games of the Hanguang exercise or evaluates major weapons procurement, core experts from the U.S. military system will be on-site to provide first-hand advice. Although this breakthrough will greatly help strengthen Taiwan's defense capabilities, on the other hand, U.S. personnel directly enter the core of our defense and military systems. In the future, more stringent supporting measures will inevitably be needed in terms of legal sharing of confidential information, confidentiality systems, and information security protection. This "deep integration" of Taiwan-US military cooperation will undoubtedly write a new chapter in the strategic defense situation across the Taiwan Strait.
