A small number of U.S. forces are in Taiwan to train with Taiwanese soldiers, President Tsai Ing-wen said in an interview with CNN, confirming the presence of U.S. troops on the self-governing island that China considers its own.
between Taiwan and China, which has not ruled out taking the island by force, have escalated in recent weeks as Beijing raises military and political pressure.
Asked how many U.S. service members are deployed in Taiwan, she said only that it was "not as many as people thought". with U.S. troops, official confirmation could further aggravate U.S.-China relations at a time when Beijing is carrying out muscular military exercises near Taiwan. Taiwan does though send its F-16 pilots to be trained in the United States, at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona.