A document claiming the United States intends to increase the number of military trainers and related personnel in Taiwan from about 548 to 1,000 by fiscal 2027 circulated on Taiwanese social media last week, drawing requests from opposition lawmakers for the government to verify it.
An anonymous member posted the material Sept. 23 in the public Facebook group 靠北長官膽大版 (Complaints About Commanding Officers – Bold Edition). According to Taiwanese news outlet CNEWS, the person who uploaded it said its authenticity could not be confirmed. Mirror Daily reported the following day that the original post had been removed. (life.tw)
The anonymous document is headed as a proposed increase in personnel for a U.S. military training group associated with the American Institute in Taiwan, or AIT. It says the number of American instructors and other personnel would rise in stages during the 2025 to 2027 fiscal years.
The text says the additional personnel would support training for Taiwan’s reserve forces and coordination between U.S. and Taiwanese forces. It describes the current instructors as serving on temporary duty and proposes maintaining a temporary duty arrangement as the group expands. Also, it alleges there are shortfalls in training for combined operations, communications and other military tasks, according to the Chinese text.
The document cites the Taiwan Relations Act, a 2023 agreement between AIT and Taiwan’s representative office in the United States, and provisions of the U.S. fiscal 2025 National Defense Authorization Act. It also refers to US$300 million in assistance for Taiwan. These citations can be checked separately, but they do not verify the proposed increase has been approved.
CNEWS reported that Kuomintang lawmaker Hung Meng-kai asked Taiwan’s Defense Ministry to determine whether the document was genuine. Hung said the government should correct the record if it was forged. If genuine, he said, officials should explain its background and the situation in the Taiwan Strait without compromising sensitive information. (life.tw)
2027 appears in the document as a proposed staffing target.
Another Kuomintang lawmaker, Huang Chien-pin, said both the authenticity of the document and its status as any government plan needed to be established. He called for information on the scale of military cooperation, the duties of foreign personnel and the use of public funds. Huang said Taiwan’s government should strengthen defense training and maintain communication across the strait. (life.tw)
Huang also pointed to a Taiwanese budget item for a joint U.S.-Taiwan defense cooperation assessment spanning 2026 to 2028, according to CNEWS. He said the three-year allocation totaled about NT$471.23 million. Huang asked the Defense Ministry to explain its purpose. (life.tw)
A proposal to expand the training mission to roughly 1,000 people predates the social media post. In written testimony submitted to a U.S. House committee in May 2025, retired Rear Adm. Mark Montgomery recommended doubling what he called the joint training team in Taiwan to approximately 1,000 personnel. He proposed placing half the staff on permanent duty orders. His testimony was a recommendation, not an announcement of an approved U.S. deployment. (www.congress.gov)
Taiwan’s Central News Agency reported at the time that Montgomery put the existing team at about 500 people. The agency also noted that the U.S. government had not confirmed the precise number of U.S. military personnel in Taiwan. Montgomery’s estimate therefore provides context for the online claim, but not independent confirmation of its figure of 548. (www.cna.com.tw)
The fiscal 2025 defense authorization law allows up to US$300 million for the Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative. Its listed purposes include equipment, defensive capabilities and training. (www.govinfo.gov)