DEFENSE/Taiwan should prepare to coordinate joint operations with US: Experts

Taipei, Sept. 2 (CNA) Taiwan should prepare to coordinate joint operations with the United States in case a cross-strait conflict arises, Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a research fellow at the Taipei-based Institute for National Defense and Security Research (INDSR), has suggested.

At an academic forum held in Taipei on Sunday, Shen said that the U.S. could assist Taiwan in different ways amid a cross-strait conflict and that Taiwan must prepare for every scenario.

In terms of the extent of the intervention, the U.S. may solely provide weaponry and intelligence, dispatch the navy and air force, or dispatch large-scale ground troops to Taiwan, said the security expert.

Shen said the most significant form of assistance would be an alliance mode, which would especially require prior coordination, integration of command, related training and logistics planning.

The U.S. is currently assisting Taiwan under a "quasi-alliance mode" based on the Taiwan Relations Act, in which it sells weapons, provides military financing and helps with military training, Shen pointed out.

While the U.S. has no diplomatic relations or mutual defense agreements with Taiwan, Shen said it is "highly likely" the two countries would form an alliance because of Taiwan's strategic importance.

For example, Shen said, although Ukraine is not a part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the U.S. and NATO provided military support to the eastern European country even before the full-scale Russia-Ukraine War broke out due to geopolitical concerns.

Huang Chung-ting (黃宗鼎), an associate research fellow at INDSR, a government-funded think tank, said Taiwan needs to inspect the "future progressive tense" of the cooperative relationship between Taiwan and the U.S.

If Taiwan sees the U.S. dispatching troops as an option, it should sign a "Visiting Forces Agreement" or a "Reciprocal Access Agreement" with the U.S. in advance as a legal basis, he added.

Shen and Huang were speaking at the academic forum titled "Defending Freedom and Democracy in the Western Pacific Region: from the Mutual Defense Treaty to the Taiwan Relations Act," hosted by the Taiwan Association of University Professors.

The forum invited seven experts and scholars to discuss the relationship between the U.S. and Taiwan, from perspectives such as defense, history and current affairs.