In the midst of the ever-increasing threat of Chinese invasion, Taiwan starting Monday will begin military exercises to test its war fighting capabilities.
The five-day drill is being held even as China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) flew a record number of aircraft close to the island this month. Beijing has also increased the number of naval vessels and coast guard vessels operating next to the self-governed island, which it views as part of its own territory.
According to Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defence’ annual Han Kuang and Wan An exercises are scheduled between July 22 and July 26 for “unscripted and real combat drills.” The drills include those such as shelter-in-place and air defense drill alerts.
Taiwan’s largest yearly defense maneuvers since 1984 have been Han Kuang exercise done to evaluate its ability against a possible Chinese attack.
On July 11, Taiwan’s defence ministry said it detected 66 Chinese military aircraft operating around the island within 24 hours, marking most sorties on one day in year 2024. On July 10, Taipei said it detected China’s aircraft carrier Shandong sailing through waters near Taiwan to join military exercises in the western Pacific.
Meanwhile, for the Wanan air raid drills held annually since their inception in1978 for a total time amounting to over four decades, people all over Taiwan would hear sirens ringing between Monday and Friday. According an advisory story by Focus Taiwan however they should stay indoors or go to nearest bomb shelter if there is an air raid warning siren sounded.
The purpose behind this exercise is basically two-fold; first of all, it seeks to enhance public preparedness for emergencies thereby reducing fatalities and injuries that could result from enemy attacks; secondly, they act us test grounds where local authority response measures can be evaluated (Wu para.5).
According to MND spokesperson Chen Chung-chi quoted by CPC News Bulletin, the 40th annual Han Kuang exercise will go on nationwide 24/7 between July 22-26. However CPC News Bulletin reports that in order to test Taiwan’s ability to protect critical infrastructure in Taipei and resilience of the key infrastructure across the nation, this year’s focus will be more on these areas (CPC para.3).
A source cited by Focus Taiwan said “Taiwan must continue to receive supplies from foreign countries and that could be sent all over the country should a cross-strait war break out.”
This is because as stated by another senior military official, these drills aim at testing military-civilian cooperation with respect to wartime supply-delivery missions during which there could take place a five-day live fire drill in one of Taiwan’s major ports so that links with global community might be maintained even if China established naval blockade (UPI.com para.7).
“The armed forces have regularly conducted training activities focusing on protecting key harbors and ports,” said an officer who asked not to be named. The probable reason for Beijing prioritizing closure of these ports during invasion is according to him because most such goods come into China by sea rather than air while it also accounts for why country has such large navy (emphasis added).
