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Taiwan just recently wrapped up its largest annual military exercise aimed at preparing the island for a potential Chinese offensive as tensions rise once again, and experts told Insider this year’s drills appeared more focused on ‘survivability’ than they have in the past.
Greater emphasis is being placed on Taiwan’s Han Kuang exercise, which ended last Friday, amid growing concerns that China could choose to use force against the self-governing island democracy Beijing perceives as an inseparable part of China’s territory.
China regularly conducts military exercises near Taiwan and sends military aircraft into its air defense zone, and these have become increasingly provocative. Last October, for example, Taiwan scrambled aircraft in response to 56 Chinese warplanes entering Taiwan’s air defense identification zone in a single day.
And this week, as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan amid repeated threats and warnings from China, multiple large groups consisting of about four dozen Chinese warplanes in total flew through the island’s ADIZ, with some Chinese military aircraft crossing the median line. China will also be conducting live-fire exercises all around Taiwan this week.
Facing these challenges and others from China, which has not taken force off the table as an option for achieving its unification goals, Taiwan has been forced to think carefully about how it would defend itself.
The Han Kuang exercise is Taiwan’s largest annual military drill, with a command post exercise taking place in the spring followed by live-fire exercises in the late summer.
During the drills last week, Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-Wen told troops that the exercise demonstrates “the ability and determination of our military in defending our country,” CNN reported.
Mark Cozad, acting associate director of the International Security and Defense Policy Center at the Rand Corporation, told Insider that the aim of the Han Kuang exercise can be broken into two parts: readying Taiwan for an attack and its immediate aftermath and blunting a Chinese assault so Taiwan can prepare for further fighting.
In the event of a Chinese attack, Taiwan would likely move quickly to disperse its aircraft and other strategic assets, moving them to potentially less vulnerable underground facilities, as ground combat units and guided-missile systems fire on and attempt to repel incoming enemies at key waterways and ports.
