Taipei, Taiwan - Taiwan on Friday confirmed the US is training its coastguard in maritime patrol and law enforcement skills amid ongoing military exercises, as China continues to ramp up its patrols around the island.
Taiwan and the US signed a memorandum of understanding in 2021 to boost maritime cooperation between their respective coastguards, but they rarely publicize joint training exercises.
That appears to be changing after the de facto US embassy in Taiwan published an undated photo last month on Facebook of a US coast guard ship sailing beside a Taiwanese coastguard vessel.
The image appeared as Chinese ships began in June to patrol for the first time an area of the Western Pacific near Taiwan's east coast, which Taipei branded as "provocative" and "expansionism in disguise."
China claims Taiwan as part of its sovereign territory, despite the island being democratically self-governed since 1949, and insists that nearby waters come under its jurisdiction. Taipei firmly rejects these assertions.
The US Coast Guard training from August 10–21 will focus on "small-craft operations, team coordination, and maritime patrols," Taiwan's coastguard said in a statement on Friday.
The aim is to improve Taiwan's "maritime law enforcement capabilities" when operating in "complex maritime operational environments," it said.
Taiwan's coastguard declined to provide further details about the training, which comes amid major nationwide exercises designed to prepare the country's military and population for a theoretical Chinese invasion.
China has stepped up military and coast guard activity near Taiwan in recent years, deploying fighter jets, warships, and other vessels around the island on an almost daily basis.
On Friday alone, Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense reported that nine sorties of Chinese aircraft, 12 navy ships and two official ships had operated off its coast by 6AM local time.