• Asia How Taiwan will protect itself from the "Chinese invasion of 2025": missiles, submarines and warships

US Marines and special operations forces have been secretly training Taiwan troops for at least a year, at the risk of provoking the wrath of China, a Pentagon official confirmed Thursday.

The source, who requested anonymity, told AFP that

a contingent of about 20 personnel from special operations

and conventional forces has been conducting the training for a year.

The official thus confirmed a report in

The Wall Street Journal,

which noted that some two dozen US soldiers trained Taiwanese land and sea forces "for at least a year," amid increasing verbal threats from China against the island. ally of the United States.

Although it was rumored a year ago that US forces could be in Taiwan, until now no one has confirmed it.

The Taiwan Defense Ministry declined to comment on the report.

Meanwhile, Pentagon spokesman John Supple said that US support for Taiwan's armed forces is measured by its defense needs.

"Our support for Taiwan and our defense relations (with the island) are in line with the

current threat posed by the People's Republic of China,

" Supple said in a statement.

"We urge Beijing to fulfill its commitment to the peaceful resolution of differences," he added.

Taiwanese Prime Minister Su Tseng-chang said on Friday that "a just cause always generates a lot of support," when asked about the report in the US newspaper.

The report appears to confirm reports in the Taiwanese press that, in November, indicated - quoting the Taiwanese Naval Command - that US troops had arrived there to train the island's forces in amphibious operations and with small boats.

Those reports had been denied by US and Taiwanese officials, who stressed that both sides maintain bilateral military exchanges and cooperation.

The United States supplies Taiwan with weapons

, including defense missiles and fighter jets, amid Beijing's threat to forcibly retake control of the island and reintegrate it with China.

Washington also maintains an ambiguous commitment to defend Taiwan, which Beijing considers a renegade province.

Chinese forces have stepped up their activities toward Taiwan in the past year. Taiwanese Defense Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng has stated that China will be "capable of organizing a large-scale invasion" of the island by 2025. The US and China are pushing the status quo created in 1979, when Washington it recognized Beijing as the only Chinese government with the understanding that Taiwan would have a peaceful future.

On Wednesday, the head of Chinese diplomacy, security adviser Yang Jiechi and the White House National Security adviser, Jake Sullivan, met in Zurich (Switzerland), a meeting in which according to Washington they discussed Taiwan among other issues .

In addition, it has been announced that US President

Joe Biden

and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping will hold a virtual meeting before the end of 2021

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