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Taiwan began its largest annual military exercise Wednesday, testing how troops, reservists and civilians would respond to a potential Chinese attack amid growing military pressure from Beijing.
The Han Kuang exercise will run from Aug. 5 to Aug. 14 and include combat simulations, air raid drills, communications disruptions and preparations for a possible blockade, according to defense officials.
China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has threatened to use force to seize the island of 23 million people.
Beijing has increased military activity around Taiwan in recent years, deploying fighter jets and warships near the island almost daily and conducting large-scale exercises. The Chinese coast guard has also expanded so-called gray zone operations around Taiwan and its outlying islands.
Dozens of reservists deployed Wednesday along a beach facing the Taiwan Strait, firing Taiwan-made assault rifles at targets on a shoreline where Chinese forces could land during an invasion.
At a school playground in Taipei, reservists practiced loading mortars and handling M4A1 rifles.
Navy vessels, including a submarine, were deployed in southern Taiwan. Tanks and other armored vehicles conducted pre-dawn maneuvers through the streets of Taichung, while Black Hawk helicopters flew over Kaohsiung.
A senior defense official said the exercise had increasingly focused on realistic combat conditions so units could test their operational capabilities without experiencing an actual war.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the drills with the media.
A major focus of this year’s exercise is decentralizing command and control, allowing battlefield commanders and officers to make operational decisions without waiting for instructions.
The military will also practice drone “kill chain” operations combining reconnaissance and attack drones with other weapons, the senior defense official said.
Taiwan has increased defense spending and acquired smaller, more mobile weapons, including drones, as part of preparations for asymmetric warfare against China.
Under pressure from the U.S. to spend more on security, President Lai Ching-te’s government has pledged to raise defense spending to 5% of gross domestic product by 2030.
However, Lai’s government and opposition parties that control parliament have disagreed over funding for Taiwan’s defense capabilities.
In May, the Kuomintang and the Taiwan People’s Party approved a $25 billion special defense budget, cutting by one-third the amount requested by Lai’s Democratic Progressive Party.
The opposition removed about $15 billion that the government had sought for domestic drone purchases and other defense measures. Lawmakers are now considering competing proposals involving billions of dollars in drone investment.
Lai said Tuesday that Taiwan would continue strengthening national defense and building “whole-of-society defense and resilience” as the Chinese Communist Party’s authoritarianism expanded.
Urban resilience drills will be held alongside the military exercise as the government prepares the island for war or natural disasters.
Mobile internet speeds will be reduced for 30 minutes during air raid drills in northern and central regions to expose civilians to possible communications disruptions.
Taiwan will also deploy navy and coast guard vessels to escort supplies during a simulated Chinese blockade in waters east of the island.
The exercise will assess the ability of mobilized factories to support wartime production and test the relocation of military and civilian factories during a conflict, defense officials previously said.
“Training can always be better,” Defense Minister Wellington Koo said Wednesday.
“We will therefore continue to train diligently and intensively, so that we are fully prepared in peacetime and able to carry out our missions in wartime.”
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