China Fears US Military Is Secretly Training Taiwanese Forces For War Of Attrition

Chinese state-run media alleged that the U.S. intends to covertly train Taiwan’s military in preparation for a prolonged war of attrition on Wednesday.

Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen announced that the U.S. National Guard is planning on “cooperation” with Taiwan’s military during Illinois Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth’s visit to Taipei on Tuesday, according to Reuters. Global Times, a Chinese state-run publication, responded by alleging that the U.S. National Guard actually aims to provide training to enhance Taiwan’s “urban warfare capability” in order to bog down the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in a war of attrition in the event of an invasion of Taiwan.

“The U.S. National Guard is a U.S. domestic armed force that deals with emergency public incident like anti-terrorism, so the focus of the cooperation between the U.S. National Guard and Taiwan’s armed forces could be urban warfare,” Song Zhongping, a Chinese military expert, told the Global Times. “The U.S. wants to enable the island of Taiwan to drag the PLA into a war of attrition using urban warfare when the PLA lands on the island.”

Characterizing U.S.-Taiwan cooperation as “collusion,” Song told the Global Times that the U.S. is allegedly sending the “wrong signal” that it supports Taiwan independence by helping Taiwan’s military “resist reunification by force.” The U.S. has also allegedly been “secretly encouraging and supporting” Taiwan independence forces, Senior Colonel Shi Yi, spokesman for the PLA Eastern Theater Command, told the Global Times.

“The United States makes available to Taiwan defense articles and services necessary to enable it to maintain a sufficient self-defense capability commensurate with [the People’s Republic of China’s] threat to Taiwan,” Lt. Col. Martin Meiners, a Department of Defense spokesman, told The Daily Caller News Foundation.

The PLA reportedly “greeted” Duckworth when she arrived for her surprise visit to Taiwan on Monday by sending “at least 30 warplanes of nine different types” and then “saw Duckworth off” with a “large-scale military exercise” on Wednesday, Global Times reported.

The Chinese Embassy, the Taiwan Economic and Cultural Representative Office and Duckworth did not respond immediately to TheDCNF’s request for comment.