In news that shocked the world, US special forces are now stationed just six miles off
China's coast. With their presence accidentally leaked, China has responded with the expected
levels of outrage. Yet the US military has refused to back down, and in fact,
has now confirmed that the presence of American special operators in Taiwan will now be permanent.
The move was controversial, to say the least, and China has labeled it as an act
of provocation. Yet it's not Taiwan that's threatening to invade China, but rather the
other way around- and hence why members of the US Army's Green Berets, along with other operators,
will now be permanently stationed on at least two islands just off the Chinese coast.
US service members have visited Taiwan before, but this is the first time that America is
putting boots on the ground permanently- and all under the invitation of Taiwan itself. Funding
for a permanent presence was secured under the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act,
and it's unknown just how many American soldiers now make Taiwan a part of their duty rotation.
What we do know so far is that there are US soldiers on at least two sites in Taiwan- the
island of Penghu, and the island of Kinmen, which is just six miles off China's coast.
The Department of Defense has remained tightlipped on the purpose of these special forces,
though it did confirm that one of their goals is to help train Taiwan's own special and
amphibious forces. Green Berets specialize in defending against enemy special forces,
making them ideally suited to the task of preparing Taiwan for the inevitable insertion
of Chinese special forces operators if a conflict ever sparks up in the region. A major focus of the
Green Beret mission in Taiwan is preparing to counter China's special forces threat,
as well as identify and neutralize infiltrators and sabotage agents.
This is a major concern, given that Taiwan intelligence regularly discovers
Chinese collaborators or infiltrators in the Taiwanese military, the general population,
or its government. For its part, China has launched an aggressive campaign of gray zone
warfare against Taiwan in an effort to sway public opinion or help set the stage for an
invasion. Chinese infiltrators stir up the Taiwanese population- with little success
to date- but also gather detailed information on Taiwan's defenses. In case of war, it's expected
that the first phase of an invasion will include a massive sabotage campaign across the islands,
all performed in an attempt to slow or hamstring Taiwan's initial response to Chinese incursions.
Political and military leaders are also the target of Chinese special forces.
Plans show that specialized kill teams will be sent to assassinate Taiwan's
leadership as part of China’s spearhead during its invasion of Taiwan. Here the
Green Berets are well suited for helping train Taiwan's forces, with Green Berets
typically providing security for American VIPs during war time scenarios. During Desert Storm,
American General Norman Schwarzkopf, who oversaw the entire campaign,
had his own security detail of Green Berets to thwart Iraqi attempts to assassinate him.
Many in the US military believe that a Chinese invasion of Taiwan is inevitable, and recent
reports state that China will likely be fully prepared for such an invasion by 2027. The initial
estimate was that China would capitalize on political turmoil after the 2024 American election
to invade by 2025, but a massive corruption scandal amongst the People's Liberation Army
Rocket Force seems to have significantly eroded Chinese President Xi Jinping's confidence in his
military. The scandal has ensnared numerous senior PLARF and other military officials, including two
now former commanders of the rocket force. It also revealed that it's possible a number of Chinese
missile silos had faulty doors that prevented their missiles from being fired- a revelation
supported by the well-documented corruption and poor quality work of Chinese construction firms.
The PLARF is key to any invasion of Taiwan, as China's rocket force is tasked with neutralizing
US regional power. Via long-range ballistic missiles, China aims to shut down American
airfields across the Pacific for long enough to successfully land on Taiwan. Long-range
anti-ship missiles will target US Navy surface action groups, with the specific goal of sinking
American carriers. The PLARF's entire purpose is basically to enable China freedom of action
in the Taiwan Strait by keeping US naval and air forces at bay. But if this specialized
force is incapable of doing its job, China stands little chance of successfully landing on Taiwan.
China's corruption scandal may have brought the US and Taiwan a few more years, but either way,
America is taking the threat of a Chinese invasion more seriously than it ever has
before in its history. Many in the intelligence and military community
agree that invasion is all but inevitable, and until now, America has retained a position of
strategic ambiguity. However, in an effort to deter an invasion in the first place,
American President Joe Biden publicly affirmed twice that he would defend
Taiwan. White House press staff were quick to walk the comments back, creating even
more ambiguity about the US' real intentions and inserting doubt into Chinese calculations.
Though the presence of US Special Forces so close to China leaves little room for interpretation. As
America gears up for new weapon sales to Taiwan, it's likely that these operators aren't just there
to train in countering China's own special forces and sabotage or infiltration attempts,
but also to help train Taiwanese troops in new tools the US has made available for purchase.
Amongst these is the Black Hornet. These micro drones have seen action in Ukraine where Ukrainian
special operators have utilized them to conduct covert surveillance against Russian forces. The
small drones are perfect for local reconnaissance and include three cameras- one facing forward,
one facing down, and one canted at a 45-degree angle from the nose. The
powerful little drone is even strong enough to fly in harsh winds, despite its tiny size of
six by one inches (16 x 2.5cm) and total weight of 18 grams (.7oz). Its loiter time is around 20
to 25 minutes, which is the same amount of time as it takes to recharge its battery. Therefore,
with two drones, one can be ready for flight as soon as its partner returns from a mission. The
drone even has night vision and infrared capability, perfect for recon at night.
Very little has been publicly confirmed about the specific mission and training
that America's Green Berets are undertaking in Taiwan, but their location on outlying
islands is a strong hint of other aspects of their mission. The proximity to China's coast
could hint at the preparation for Taiwan's own special forces to conduct counter-infiltrations
into China itself in case of hostilities. Any invasion of Taiwan would take months to
prepare for, as troops are moved to the coast and ships are assembled. This gives Taiwanese
special forces an opportunity to conduct sabotage missions inside China itself in
an effort to slow the invasion or delay it. Given that tidal conditions in the Strait
of Taiwan itself are only favorable for an invasion at two different times of the year,
a delay caused by sabotage could delay an invasion long enough to make it not politically viable.
Using encrypted and jam-resistant communications links, special forces on these islands could
direct long-range fires against Chinese vessels moving into the Strait. This is a critical concern
for China, and one that we know it has spent a lot of time worrying about. In case of war,
US Marines will be used to conduct amphibious landings on outlying islands across the strait and
near China's coast. A structural reorganization of American Marines has now made them into a far
more flexible and agile force, with the ability to deploy onto outlying islands,
or seize them by force, and turn them into anti-ship missile bases with the help of
tools like HIMARS. America's goal in the Pacific is to present China with more complications than
it can resolve, overwhelming its ability to defend itself and its invasion forces.
These islands could also host mobile air defense systems to harass the Chinese Air Force as it
attempts to seize air superiority over the Strait and Taiwan itself. We've seen an example of how
successful the aggressive use of air defenses can be in Ukraine, with the nation deploying Patriot
and NASAM air defenses just behind the front line. The surprise move resulted in a brutal ambush
of Russian aircraft that scored approximately a dozen downed aircraft- including very high-value,
and expensive, airborne alert and control aircraft well behind the front lines.
US Special Forces on Taiwan itself would be critical to America's response to
Chinese aggression. They would not only help Taiwan defend itself from Chinese
special forces operators, but also help coordinate action between Taiwan's military
and America's own. Their knowledge of American weapon systems would prove
invaluable as Taiwan purchases ever greater numbers of them, and their ability to relay
precise targeting data on Chinese forces to American strike capabilities would be
crucial for the rapid and accurate destruction of invading forces and their support equipment.
All this doesn't come without significant risk, though. In any invasion of Taiwan, it would put
US service members in the direct line of fire. Yet this was always going to be the case, as the
war would predominantly play out between China's navy and air force against America's own navy and
air force. The addition of ground combat troops could prove politically contentious for Americans,
especially if the nation elects an isolationist president or one with Chinese sympathies.
However, the present course being charted by America does not indicate this will
be the case. For the first time in US-Taiwan relations, the island democracy has become the
beneficiary of America's foreign military finance program. This is not a loan or weapons purchase,
but rather direct military assistance provided throughout history to various
nations such as Ukraine, Egypt, Afghanistan, and others. An $80 million dollar transfer
of weapons was meant to bolster Taiwan's defenses, with the added side effect of
boosting the domestic economy by creating a need to replace those same supplies.
For decades, the US has maintained a strategy of ambiguity on the Taiwan matter,
and refused to officially recognize the country so as not to anger China. In the past,
US arms sales to the nation were meant to ensure that it had enough weapons to defend itself,
but not so much as to completely deteriorate relations with China. Yet, as many have observed,
China's military advantage over Taiwan is now massive, and the old strategy no
longer works. Taiwan needs direct military assistance, and a significant amount of it,
in order to deter the far more powerful and modern China from attempting an invasion. No one except
senior US and Taiwanese officials know exactly what weapons Taiwan is getting at the moment,
but it's likely that it includes a healthy amount of Stinger short-range air defense
missiles and Javelin anti-tank guided missiles- both of which have proven invaluable in Ukraine.
But that $80 million was only the start, and shortly after, Taiwan placed an order for an
additional $500 million in new weapons on top of the aid package. The nation is also
sending two battalions of troops to train in the United States, the first time that's happened
since the 1970s, and before the US switched official recognition from Taiwan to China.
Taiwan is in dire need of restructuring when it comes to its military in the face
of growing Chinese aggression, and the US' aim is to help with that. Its main battle
tanks are mostly aging Cold War models donated or sold by the US, and unlikely to offer much
resistance against China's more modern tanks. It also has a critical shortfall of missile
systems for both air defense and to counter Chinese armored vehicles, a problem that the
US is attempting to fix with ongoing arms sales but is being affected by the need to send these
same weapons to Ukraine. Taiwanese units are also hovering around 60% of their required manpower
thanks to the reduction of military service from one year to just four months in 2013.
To remedy this, Taiwan has reinstated a mandatory full year of service for all youth,
but the nation faces significant problems on the training front that the US is attempting to help
rectify. Taiwanese citizens jokingly refer to this period of service as “summer camp”,
and those interviewed say that there is no regular training and they only practice firing
fifty-year-old rifles every two weeks. While American combat troops undergo rigorous training
on marksmanship fundamentals, such training has been lacking in the Taiwanese military,
and there is little, if any, emphasis on physical fitness.
All of these shortfalls are changing under immense pressure from the United States. Wargame after
wargame has shown that China inevitably lands its forces on Taiwan- even if its amphibious
fleet suffers heavy losses. This has led the US to pressure Taiwan into investing far more resources
into its army, which Washington says should be prepared to fight China not just on the beaches,
but in the cities, towns, and jungles as well. The strategic reality is that due to
its proximity to China and the need for the US Navy and Air Force to operate from so far away,
Taiwan needs to be fully prepared for the inevitable incursion of Chinese ground forces.
Taiwan's army thus needs to be able to hold the island's political and economic centers
long enough for US and allied forces to destroy the Chinese navy and air force. This would leave
Chinese army forces on the island cut off from resupply, and inevitably forced to surrender.
Leading the way in helping retrain Taiwan's army are US special forces,
and their permanent deployment hints that this is not their only mission.
Now go check out “USA vs China Military Weapons Technology
Comparison,” or click this other video instead!