Around 200 U.S. military advisers have been deployed to Taiwan, reportedly to train local troops against potential attacks from China, five times the number of American personnel based on the island at the end of last year.

U.S. advisers had been sighted as early as the end of March at a base in Kaohsiung’s Gangshan District, according to local media reports.

The advisers “have been primarily assigned to boot camps and reserve brigades,” the official Central News Agency (CNA) quoted unnamed sources within the armed forces as saying.

Currently stationed at bases across Taiwan, they will provide practical consultations on training methods to the Taiwanese military, CNA reported.

The Pentagon’s plans to deploy military advisers to Taiwan were first revealed in February. It is understood that they were prearranged for months and not connected to the latest developments in the Taiwan Strait, such as China’s recent military exercises.

Taiwan also plans to send a combined arms battalion to the United States for training in the second half of this year, it was reported earlier.

Several prominent figures in the U.S. military have  urged the island’s leadership to build up defense capabilities for a possible Chinese invasion.

Taiwan plans to purchase up to 400 land-launched Harpoon missiles from the United States.

Meanwhile, several Southeast Asian governments are reportedly putting their own contingency plans in place for a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan.

Indonesia is working on an emergency plan to evacuate 350,000 Indonesian nationals from Taiwan if war breaks out, reported Kompas newspaper. Hundreds of thousands of Indonesians living in Hong Kong, South Korea and Japan would also have to be evacuated should there be a war in Taiwan.

The Philippines has also confirmed it has an evacuation plan for 150,000 Filipinos currently living in Taiwan.

There are around 730,000 migrant workers from Southeast Asia currently in Taiwan, representing 3% of the population, according to official statistics.

The largest groups are from Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines and Thailand.

There are around 200,000 migrant workers from Vietnam and more than 60,000 from Thailand living in Taiwan. So far the Vietnamese and Thai governments have not announced any emergency plans for their citizens.

Source: RFA

The Group of Seven (G7) advanced economies stressed their solidarity against Russia’s assault on Ukraine, and called on China to “abstain from threats,” in a communique Tuesday following talks in Japan.

The bloc’s top diplomats promised “severe consequences” for any use of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons by Russia in the on-going conflict in Ukraine, and pledged that those supporting the Kremlin’s war effort there would face “severe costs.” In particular, they pointed to Russia’s threat to deploy nuclear weapons in neighboring Belarus.

The ministers also called on China to “abstain from threats, coercion, intimidation, or the use of force” and raised “serious concerns” about the situation in the East and South China Seas – opposing “militarization” of the South China Sea, while presenting a unified front on Taiwan.

“There is no change in the basic positions of the G7 members on Taiwan, including stated one China policies,” their communique said, which also “reaffirmed” the importance of “peace and stability” across the Taiwan Strait as an “indispensable element in security and prosperity in the international community.”

That statement, which goes further than typical language in recent communiques, comes after French President Emmanuel Macron sparked controversy among western allies earlier this month for telling reporters Europe must not become “just America’s followers,” including over the issue of Taiwan.

The statement appeared to soften Europe’s reaction to a potential conflict involving a Chinese invasion of the self-governing island democracy, which China’s Communist Party claims as its own despite never having controlled.

Macron has since sought to downplay his comments, made during his recent state visit to China, saying on Wednesday that France was “for the status quo in Taiwan” and that his country’s position “has not changed.”

Following his departure, China held three days of military drills in the air and sea around the island, in retaliation for a visit between US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen – a meeting Beijing claims is in violation of its sovereignty.

The G7 foreign ministers said, however, that they “recognized the importance of engaging candidly with and expressing our concerns directly to China” and working together with Beijing on global challenges, according to the statement.

Wen-Ti Sung, a political scientist at the Australian National University’s Taiwan Studies Program, said that as far as Taiwan is concerned, the communique appeared to see the G7 “balancing two competing priorities.”

They “underscore the interdependence between peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait and that of the broader international community,” but also “reassure” Beijing they do not support Taiwan independence, he said. He pointed to the language referring to “one China policies” or agreements by which governments have established diplomatic relations with Beijing and not Taipei.

This year’s G7 meetings are hosted by the bloc’s only Asian member. The communique was released as the foreign ministers wrapped up three days of talks in the central Japanese town of Karuizawa in Nagano prefecture.

Next month leaders from the member countries, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States, as well as representatives from the European Union, will gather for a summit in Hiroshima.

In their communique Tuesday, the bloc’s foreign ministers stressed their interest in working together in the Indo-Pacific – a region now viewed by the US as a key theater for its competition with China.

The statement also touched on a number of global issues, including condemning North Korea’s weapons testing and nuclear programs, as well as the military coup in Myanmar and an deadly April 11 airstrike by the Myanmar military that left civilians, including children dead.

The minister also urged fighting parties in the recent outbreak of violence in Sudan to “end hostilities immediately,” and return to negotiations.

By Simone McCarthy and Alex Stambaugh,

The Nimitz Carrier Strike Group is in the South China Sea and the Makin Island Amphibious Ready Group is operating in the Sulu Sea, according to the USNI News Fleet and Marine Tracker. Meanwhile, the People’s Liberation Army Navy Shandong Carrier Strike Group continues its training patrol in the Pacific.

The Nimitz CSG is operating in the South China Sea, conducting training among surface, air, and undersea assets, as well as flight operations with fixed and rotary wing aircraft, according to a Navy news release issued Sunday.

“The Nimitz Carrier Strike Group is fulfilling a promise to our allies and partners in the region – we aren’t going anywhere,” Rear Adm. Christopher Sweeney, the commander of Carrier Strike Group 1, said in the release. “Our presence in the region reinforces open sea lines of communication and the rules-based international order. Our commitment to our allies and partners in the region remains ironclad as we promote a free and open Indo-Pacific.”

This is the third time the CSG has operated in the South China Sea during its deployment to the Indo-Pacific, the release noted.

The Nimitz CSG deployed from the West Coast on Dec. 3 and entered U.S. 7th Fleet on Dec. 16. It was previously operating in the East China Sea and the Philippine Sea after departing the port of Busan, Korea on April 2 following a port visit. The CSG joined a trilateral exercise with the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force and Republic of Korea Navy in the East China Sea in early April.

By: Dzirhan Mahadzir

A Chinese coast guard ship and a Vietnamese fisheries patrol boat apparently had a tense encounter during the weekend in the South China Sea, coming as close as 10 meters to each other, according to data from Marine Traffic, a ship-tracking website.

The data, based on the ships’ automatic identification system (AIS) signals, shows that the China Coast Guard ship, CCG5205, and Vietnam’s Kiem Ngu 278 came “crazy close” to one another at around 7 a.m. on Sunday local time (midnight UTC), said a researcher based in California.

As of Monday afternoon (local time), the CCG5205 was operating in Malaysia’s exclusive economic zone after it left Vietnam waters where the Kiem Ngu 278 had been pursuing the considerably larger Chinese ship since March 24, tracking data showed.

At one point the two ships were less than 10 meters (32.8 feet) apart, according to Ray Powell, the Project Myoushu (South China Sea) lead at Stanford University, who first spotted the incident at sea.

“The Vietnamese ship was pretty bold given the difference in size – the Chinese ship is twice the size of the Vietnamese ship,” Powell said.

“It must have been a very tense engagement.”

The incident occurred some 50 nautical miles (92.6 kilometers) south of Vanguard Bank, a known South China Sea flashpoint between Vietnam and China.

About 90 minutes later, the Chinese ship left Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) where it had been since Friday evening.

An EEZ gives a state exclusive access to the natural resources in the waters and in the seabed.

Ship-tracking data shows Vietnam’s Kiem Ngu 278 was closely following the Chinese coast guard vessel CCG5205. [Marine Traffic]

Last month, the same China Coast Guard ship was accused of approaching about 150 yards (137 meters) from a Philippine Coast Guard ship and pointing a laser at the crew, causing temporary blindness to them.

On Feb. 6, the Philippine Coast Guard said that the Chinese ship had “directed a military-grade laser light” twice at the BRP Malapascua, which was on its way to deliver food and supplies to the troops stationed at the Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea.

Manila lodged a diplomatic protest and the U.S. State Department issued a statement supporting “our Philippine allies.”

Beijing rejected the allegation, saying the Philippine ship had “intruded into the waters” off the Spratly Islands “without Chinese permission” and the Chinese coast guard ship had “acted in a professional and restrained way.”

‘Too close for comfort’

In the Sunday encounter, Marine Traffic’s past track showed the Chinese CCG5205 and the Vietnamese Kiem Ngu 278 were so close that they could have collided.

“Ten meters between ships is really too close for comfort,” said Collin Koh, a Singapore-based regional maritime analyst.

“Depending on the sea state, the risk of collision is fairly high,” Koh told Radio Free Asia (RFA).

A retired Vietnamese Navy senior officer, who spoke to RFA on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the topic, said the two ships must have narrowly escaped a collision because they were sailing in opposite directions and at a very slow speed.

“If they were heading to the same direction a collision would have not been avoidable as the distance is too close and too dangerous,” he said.

Chinese ships had deliberately rammed Vietnamese patrol ships in the past, he added, but not in recent years.

The CCG5205 left Sanya, in Hainan island, for the current mission on March 11 and entered Vietnam’s EEZ the first time on March 12.

It then moved to the overlapping area between claimant states in the South China Sea and Malaysia’s EEZ before entering Vietnam’s EEZ again on March 21 for a couple hours and for the third time on March 24 when the Kiem Ngu 278 chased it.

At around midnight UTC on March 26, Vietnam’s Kiem Ngu 278 and China’s CCG5205 were dangerously close. [Marine Traffic]

The Kiem Ngu 278, officially named Vietnamese Fisheries Resources Surveillance ship KN-278, is homeported in Vung Tau, south of Ho Chi Minh City.

It left base on March 13 and had been following the Chinese vessel closely since.

In July 2021, the Kiem Ngu 278 was following another Chinese coast guard ship, the CCG5202, which Vietnam accused of harassing its gas-exploration activities.

Six parties hold claims to parts of the South China Sea and its natural resources but China’s claim is the biggest and Beijing has been trying to hinder other countries’ oil and gas activities in the waters inside its self-claimed nine-dash line.

A 2,600-ton Chinese survey vessel, the Haiyang Dizhi Si Hao, had lingered inside Vietnam’s EEZ from March 9 until March 25, when it switched off its AIS, according to data from Marine Traffic.

Its whereabouts are currently unknown.

RFA – 27/03/2023