Taiwan starts annual war games, aiming to closely mimic actual combat
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[July 22, 2024]
By Ann Wang
TAMSUI/TAOYUAN, Taiwan (Reuters) -Taiwan carried out anti-landing drills
on a strategic river on Monday at the start of the annual Han Kuang war
games, which this year aim to be as close as possible to actual combat
with no script and simulating how to repel a Chinese attack.
China, which views democratically governed Taiwan as its territory, has
been staging regular exercises around the island for four years to
pressure Taipei to accept Beijing's claim of sovereignty, despite
Taiwan's strong objections.
Taiwan's drills this year have cancelled elements that were mostly for
show, like scripted firepower displays, while there will be intensified
nighttime exercises and practising how to operate with severed command
lines.
Kicking off the first day of exercises in Tamsui at the mouth of a major
river leading to Taipei, soldiers practiced laying mines and nets to
stymie the landing of enemy forces, part of a series of drills designed
to prevent the capital being seized.
"We are trying our best to slow them down as much as possible," military
office Chang Chih-pin told reporters, referring to a scenario where the
enemy was trying to make landfall by sending rubber boats into the
Tamsui River.
"The slower they move, the better for us," he added.
Earlier on Monday in nearby Taoyuan, outside of Taipei and home to
Taiwan's main international airport, reservists gathered to get their
orders as they would during a war, and civilian vans were pressed into
service to carry supplies.
On Thursday, Taoyuan airport will close for an hour in the morning for
the drills, though a typhoon is expected to be impacting the island that
day meaning that the exercise could be delayed.
Taiwan's defence ministry also published video of air force fighter jets
at the Hualien air base on the island's east coast, which has hangars
cut out of the side of a mountain to protect aircraft from aerial
attack.
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Soldiers take part in the first day of the annual Han Kuang military
drills in Taoyuan, Taiwan July 22, 2024. REUTERS/Ann Wang
Live fire drills will only take place on Taiwan's outlying islands,
including Kinmen and Matsu which sit nestled next to the Chinese
coast and were the scene of on-off clashes during the height of the
Cold War.
The five-day war games will be happening in conjunction with the
Wan'an civil defence drills, where the streets of major cities are
evacuated for half an hour during a simulated Chinese missile
attack, and test warning alarms will sound on mobile phones.
The drill scenarios this week include setting up contingency command
lines after existing hubs are destroyed and dispersing Chinese
forces trying to land on Taiwan's western coastline facing China, a
defence official involved in the planning said.
China held two days of its own war games around the island shortly
after President Lai Ching-te took office in May, saying it was
"punishment" for his inauguration speech, which Beijing denounced as
being full of separatist content.
But China has also been using grey zone warfare against Taiwan,
wielding irregular tactics to exhaust a foe by keeping them
continually on alert without resorting to open combat. This includes
almost daily air force missions into the skies near Taiwan.
China has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its
control. Lai, who says only the Taiwanese people can decide their
future, has repeatedly offered talks but been rebuffed.
(Reporting by Ann Wang; Additional reporting by Yimou Lee; Writing
by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Michael Perry, William Maclean)
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