U.S. Special Forces enter Taiwan, nearly “Iriki strategy” against China

Pentagon sources discovered news of the American press shortly after Beijing's air power show, which took out 150 planes, including fighter and bombers, around the island of “rebel”.

The secret operation (not so much) has continued for a long time, at least a year. News has circulated in the Taipei press since late 2020, after photographs of the American Green Beret on the island appeared in social media and even the 1st American Army Special Forces Group published a promotional video of its activities in Taiwan, after the great attention it caused.

According to Washington sources, who spoke of the newspaper “Wall Street Journal”, American Special Forces troops train small Taiwanese land units in resistance shares and Marines learn how to take advantage of the potential of light and swift ships that could impede an attempt to oust China's People's Liberation Army.

The Pentagon spokesman did not deny the news: “I have no comment on specific operations, but I would like to stress that our support for Taiwan and our relations for the island's protection coincide with the threat of the People's Republic of China. We urge Beijing to honour its commitments for a peaceful settlement to the” dispute.

The American defence official's words suggest the political objective of spreading the news: signaling that the United States is always close to Taiwanese democracy, even militarily, despite officially recognising only the Beijing government and accepting in the 1970s the principle that it is “only one China” (communist).

Two dozen of the “Navy Seals” and a small department of marine specialists do not naturally change the situation in the theatre of operations that wasn't so secret.

Of course, Chinese military intelligence had not lost images of American commandos in training on Taiwan's beaches.

Besides the political perspective, however, the presence of American military instructors has strategic value. Washington has long urged friends in Taiwan not to rely solely on traditional defence tactics, especially the Air Force. The Pentagon fears that Taiwanese airports and planes would be hidden from the Chinese in the first massive attack.

A battle plan passed by administration advisers Trump, urges Taipei to prepare “the gear of iriki”: it means closing up like an iris, to exploit the enemy's difficulty, instead of allegedly conforming to his air and sea force.

Taiwanese response, above all, has to make the Chinese realize that they are able to slow down and make the invasion very bloody.

Washington's strategic inequity predicts that U.S. reinforcements would reach that point with their aircraft carriers, nuclear submarines and, in the most extreme case, marine divisions.

“Better develop less expensive but lethal systems”, in contrast, says the report. Therefore, more space is needed for rockets against ships, subx2-intelligent mines”, small and fast ships that could cause major losses in the invasion fleet, well trained ground forces in prolonged fighting.

The small American contingent present at Taiwan base is doing just that: training Taiwanese in “

The goal is for Beijing to realize that Taiwan's conquest would turn into hell. I'm not rulein' out that the Chinese already knew and were informed of the American presence on the island of”, says Bonnie Glaser, director of the Asian Programme at the German Marshall Fund.

But the public operation will move the Chinese to react, and they will probably do so, increasing pressure on Taipei, but this time with more destabilising actions than their aircraft flight around the island”

In short, Washington and Beijing are playing “poker” and Taiwan is in danger.

The foreign ministry's spokesman in Beijing commented on the news of the American Special Forces' presence on the island, demanding their withdrawal and ensuring that “Kina will take all necessary measures to protect its sovereignty and territorial integrity”. For now, a routine response to a spokesman. (SI)