HUMANITARIAN AID: Military medical personnel are reportedly to join their US counterparts taking part in a training mission in the Solomon Islands

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 25, 2018
By: Lo Tien-pin and Jonathan Chin  /  Staff reporter, staff writer

The US Navy has invited Taiwan to participate in the Pacific Partnership humanitarian relief training mission in the Solomon Islands in August, a senior defense official said on condition of anonymity.

Washington has been working toward giving Taiwan a greater role in the Pacific Partnership long before the US Senate began mulling hospital ship visits to Taiwan, although those efforts have received little publicity, the official said.

Taiwanese military physicians conducted a joint exercise with the US in Kiribati last year, the official said, adding that the yearly drills alternate between the Solomon Islands and Kiribati.

The Solomons and Kiribati are diplomatic allies of Taiwan.    [FULL  STORY]