Southeast Asian regional sources have revealed Monday that Taiwanese troops attended a rare joint exercises with the US military on American soil this summer.

It happened last month in Michigan, Taipei Times reports, and ran from August 5th to the 19th, and involved some 7,000 combined personnel. The US side was chiefly represented by the Michigan National Guard, and reportedly not troops overseen directly by the Pentagon.

Dubbed "Northern Strike", the entire joint battalion of the Taiwan's 333rd Infantry Brigade was sent to Michigan, and it's a sign that more such US-based exercises could be on the horizon.