By Keoni Everington, Taiwan News — 28 October 2021
TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — In a CNN interview released on Thursday 28 October, Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen became the first Taiwanese president in forty years to acknowledge that there are US troops deployed in the country. When CNN’s Will Ripley asked if US troops are on the ground training Taiwanese soldiers, Tsai said: “Well, yes. We have a wide range of cooperation with The US aiming at increasing our defence capability.” When asked how many American soldiers are stationed in Taiwan, Tsai responded cryptically: “Not as many as people thought.” US Department of Defense records show the official number of US troops deployed in Taiwan rose from 18 in 2018 to 32 in 2021.
In the CNN interview, Tsai also warned that “the threat from China is increasing every day” but said she would be willing to have direct talks with Chinese Chairman Xi Jinping to work toward an arrangement of “peaceful co-existence.” She said: “We are trying to make ourselves stronger in every aspect, including military capabilities and our international support.” The interview came against a backdrop of alarming cross-strait tensions: in early October China sent a record 149 warplanes into Taiwan’s Air Defence Identification Zone over four days, including a record 56 in a single day. On 7 October, The Wall Street Journal cited US government officials as saying over two dozen US special operations soldiers and support troops are stationed in Taiwan to provide military training for ground forces.