Apr 24 02:41 AM US/EasternTAIPEI, April 24 (AP) - (Kyodo) — U.S. officials attended for the first time recent military exercises in Taiwan designed to test the island's preparedness in dealing with a full-blown attack by China, Taiwan's National Security Council announced Thursday.
The announcement in a press release issued by Taiwan's Office of the President followed media reports Thursday that Stephen Young, director of the American Institute in Taiwan, the de facto U.S. embassy in the absence of official U.S.-Taiwan ties, participated in an evacuation drill Tuesday as part of the exercises by riding in a Taiwanese armored personnel carrier.
The exercises reveal a plan of protection and evacuation for U.S. and Japanese officials stationed in Taiwan in the event of an attack, local media reports said.
Approached for comment Thursday, AIT spokesman Thomas Hodges did not deny the reports, but he declined to comment.
"For information on the Yu Shan exercise, we'd simply refer you to the Taiwan side," he said, referring to the annual exercises in which the president and other high officials, including the Cabinet, are spirited away to a command bunker by the military during a simulated attack.
This year marks the first time that U.S. officials have attended the exercises amid years of requests from Washington to Taipei to observe them, the press release said.
"For the sake of mutual benefit and strengthening bilateral exchanges...the council...agreed to limited participation by the U.S. in this year's exercises," the release said.
However, U.S. officials were not allowed to attend a "crisis response meeting" by top Taiwanese leaders, including President Chen Shui-bian, it added.
The United States and Japan, although not diplomatic allies of Taiwan, do include protecting the self-ruled island from rival China as part of their shared strategic goals.
Tuesday's participation by U.S. officials, reports said, reveal Taiwan's plan to protect both AIT and Japanese officials if China were to invade.
Asked for comment Thursday, Ryoji Takagaki, a spokesman for Japan's de facto embassy in Taiwan, the Interchange Association, said he had "not heard of such a plan."
Washington and Tokyo do not station military personnel in Taipei to protect their missions given the lack of official ties with the island.
However, AIT recently announced in an advertisement calling for contractors for its new headquarters in Taipei that it intends to construct "Marine Security Guards Quarters."
Posting a Marine Security Guard attachment in Taipei would be a small but politically significant development in the delicate U.S.-Taiwan relationship, suggesting a move toward more official ties, at least in form.
The U.S. State Department has denied it intends to post U.S. Marines in Taiwan.
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