Taiwanese and US special forces and experts posing for photos holding Taiwanese and US flags in 2022. Captured by Taiwan's United Daily News. 

Amid rising military tensions surrounding the Taiwan Strait, Taiwan's Marine Corps conducted a one-month joint training exercise with the U.S. Marine Corps in Guam.

On the 24th, Taiwanese media outlets, including the China Times, reported this citing sources, stating that the 2nd Infantry Battalion of the 66th Brigade of Taiwan's Naval Commandos visited a U.S. military base in Guam, a U.S. territory, last month.

These sources explained that the 2nd Battalion traveled to Guam aboard the Yu Shan warship (LPD-1401), Taiwan's first 10,000-ton naval landing ship built with its own technology.

They further reported that to avoid surveillance by Chinese reconnaissance satellites, the Taiwanese soldiers and personnel who arrived in Guam disembarked and unloaded equipment at night.

Other sources revealed that the U.S. and Taiwanese militaries conducted training based on situational scenarios.

He explained that Taiwan's Marine Corps had received training annually in areas around U.S. territories such as Guam, Hawaii, and Saipan.

He added that in 2021, approximately 40 soldiers from one platoon of the 99th Brigade of Taiwan's Naval Commandos conducted joint training with the U.S. Marine Corps in Guam, covering tactics such as amphibious landing, air assault, and urban warfare.

The joint training program between the two sides, known as the 'Lu Hou Program,' which was suspended in 1979 due to the severance of diplomatic relations between Taiwan and the U.S., was resumed in 2017 at the squad level and has been expanded to the battalion level this year.

Previously, the U.S. military had also publicly disclosed images of joint training conducted within Taiwan for the first time in June 2020.

At the time, observations suggested it was a move to check China's high-intensity pressure on Taiwan, which was led by the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration, and to showcase security cooperation with Taiwan.

Meanwhile, Taiwanese media reported citing sources that Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense recently disclosed the signing of a contract worth 49,887,240 New Taiwan Dollars (approximately 2.34 billion Korean Won) for a 'Training Cooperation Project' between the Taiwanese military delegation in the U.S. and the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), which serves as Taiwan's de facto embassy.

The sources explained that the contract is for troop training at the naval base in Zuoying, Kaohsiung, in southern Taiwan, for two years starting from January 2nd of this year.

They further noted that this is the first time the contract has been explicitly named a 'Training Cooperation Project,' and its disclosure, after being kept secret for a long time, holds significant political meaning.

Taiwanese soldiers training with U.S. forces (highlighted circle). Captured from the Facebook page of the U.S. Army's 1st Special Forces Group. 

Yonhap News