China continues to test and harass Taiwan’s air defense capability with nearly daily forays into Taiwanese airspace. Tensions between China and Taiwan which the Chinese consider a wayward province, and the United States continue to rise. Now, it was reported that U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) troops are in Taiwan training Taiwanese troops.

For the past seven decades, Taiwan has considered itself an independent country

China has never ruled out taking Taiwan by force and its aircraft have continuously buzzed over Taiwanese airspace.

The Wall Street Journal was the first to report that about two dozen special operations troops and support personnel were in Taiwan along with a small Marine contingent training the host nation forces. This is a significant development as China’s aggressive actions increasingly look like a prelude to open war. According to an unnamed Pentagon official, the training by the U.S. has been ongoing for more than a year.