US planning 'cooperation' with Taiwan military amid tensions with China, says Tsai

The United States is set to embark on a “cooperation” plan with Taiwan’s military, Chinese Taipei President Tsai Ing-wen said on Tuesday, in the face of what Washington calls a threat from Beijing.

In a meeting with US Senator Tammy Duckworth on Tuesday, Tsai said the US Department of Defense is “now proactively planning cooperation between the US National Guard and Taiwan’s defense forces.”

She also noted that Duckworth was one of the main sponsors of the Taiwan Partnership Act, which received bipartisan support in the US Congress but has yet to become a law.

“We look forward to closer and deeper Taiwan-US cooperation on matters of regional security,” Tsai said in a meeting held in Taiwan.

The visit came in the wake of US President Joe Biden’s controversial remarks on Taiwan, which signal a possible shift in the US policy of “strategic ambiguity” toward the self-ruled territory.

Joe Biden warned Beijing last week that the US would get involved militarily if China were to attack the self-governed island. The comments were later withdrawn by his aides.

Reaffirming US backing for Chinese Taipei, Duckworth said she was visiting the island to declare that her country stands with Taiwan and that there was “tremendous” support for it from US lawmakers.

“In the near future, we look forward to Taiwan and the United States working together in taking new steps to develop concrete plans that further deepen our economic partnership,” Duckworth said.

The US has been embroiled in a long-standing dispute with China over the self-ruled island and has been accused by Chinese officials of interfering in the country’s internal affairs.

On the other side, China has been stepping up its defensive activities near Taipei to assert its sovereignty claims and oppose US military moves.

Last week, China's military said it had recently conducted an exercise around Taiwan as a "solemn warning" against its "collusion" with the US.

On Monday, Taiwan’s defense ministry accused China of carrying out the second-largest operation into the island’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) this year with 30 jets entering the area.

The ministry said it had scrambled its aircraft and deployed air defense missile systems to monitor the latest Chinese activity.

The ADIZ is not the same as Taiwan's territorial airspace but includes a far greater area that overlaps with part of China's own air defense identification zone and even includes some of the mainlands.

China views the island as its territory and under the “One China” policy, almost all world countries recognize the Chinese sovereignty of the island.

The US, too, recognizes Chinese sovereignty over the island but has long courted Taipei in defiance of Beijing.

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