Major Taiwanese news network Liberty Times Network (LTN) recently reported that retired U.S. Navy Admiral Montgomery said at a congressional hearing today that the size of the U.S. military’s joint training group in Taiwan is 500 people.
Montgomery suggested that, in the future, the U.S. presence should be expanded to 1,000 troops to build a combat-capable force. He also advocated that Taiwan’s defense budget should reach five percent of GDP by 2028 to build anti-access capabilities. The U.S. government has never confirmed the exact number of U.S. troops stationed in Taiwan.
Montgomery pointed out that the Taiwan Enhanced Resilience Act passed by the U.S. Congress in 2023 instructs the executive branch to train the Taiwanese military, but the Department of Defense has made slow progress. If Taiwan wants to truly establish a force with actual combat capabilities, it still needs more investment and participation of the U.S. military. He said the United States could provide Taiwan with 400 Harpoon missile systems, but if Taiwan did not have a team that knew how to operate, deploy, and locate these systems, and establish primary, backup, and alternative locations, it would not matter how many equipment it had.
Source: LTN, May 16, 2025
https://def.ltn.com.tw/article/breakingnews/5045072