Taiwan launches annual war games with the aim of replicating real combat as realistically as possible | WKZO | Everything Kalamazoo

By Ann Wang

TAOYUAN, Taiwan (Reuters) – Taiwan began its annual Han Kuang war games on Monday, which this year are designed to be as close to an actual battle as possible. There is no script and the games simulate how to fend off a Chinese attack.

China, which considers democratically governed Taiwan to be its territory, has been conducting regular drills around the island for four years to pressure Taipei to recognize Beijing’s claim to sovereignty, despite Taiwan’s strong objections.

Taiwan’s drills this year have eliminated elements that were more for show, such as planned firepower demonstrations, and will instead feature more intense night drills and practice dealing with broken command lines.

As the exercises began in the northern Taiwanese city of Taoyuan outside Taipei, which is also home to Taiwan’s main international airport, reservists gathered to receive orders as they would in war. Civilian transporters were also used to transport supplies.

Later in the day, the military will practice defending a key port in Taipei.

On Thursday, Taoyuan Airport will be closed for one hour in the morning for the exercises, as a typhoon is expected to hit the island that day, meaning the exercise could be delayed.

Live-fire exercises only take place on Taiwan’s offshore islands, including Kinmen and Matsu, which lie just off the Chinese coast and were the scene of repeated clashes at the height of the Cold War.

The five-day war games are taking place in parallel with the civil defense exercises in Wan’an. During this exercise, the streets of large cities are evacuated for half an hour during a simulated Chinese missile attack. In addition, warning signals are sounded on mobile phones as a test.

This week’s exercise scenarios include setting up emergency command lines in case existing bases are destroyed, as well as dispersing Chinese forces attempting to land on Taiwan’s opposite west coast, a defense official involved in the planning said.

Shortly after President Lai Ching-te took office in May, China held two days of its own military exercises on the island, which the government said were “punishment” for his inaugural speech, which Beijing had condemned as full of separatist content.

However, China is also waging gray-zone wars against Taiwan, using erratic tactics to exhaust the enemy by keeping it on constant alert without resorting to open combat, including almost daily air raids into the skies over 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 has been rebuffed.

(Reporting by Ann Wang; additional reporting by Yimou Lee; Writing by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Michael Perry)