Taiwan’s defence ministry revealed the United States has signed a two-year agreement to help train the Taiwanese navy as the island’s legislature prepared for a Tuesday vote on whether to cut military spending on overseas training.
In a public notice on Taiwan’s government procurement platform, the ministry disclosed that the US had agreed to send personnel to Taiwan for a specialised two-year naval training programme.
The training will be conducted at the headquarters of Taiwan’s navy and marine corps, located in Zuoying district near the southern city of Kaohsiung.
The agreement, valued at nearly NT$50 million (US$1.5 million), was signed between Taiwan’s navy and the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) – the de facto US embassy in Taipei – according to the notice published on Friday.
The notice did not specify the rank of the US personnel involved in the training or the exact nature of the instruction. However, it stated that the training was expected to be completed by the end of 2026.
The news comes just ahead of Donald Trump’s return to the White House on Monday and marks the first time the defence ministry has explicitly stated that the US would send personnel to help train Taiwanese troops. Such military exchanges have typically been kept confidential to avoid provoking Beijing.