MND pulls off intricate military drill

The Ministry of National Defense (MND) completed a difficult performance yesterday, as it held a showcase exercise designed to demonstrate Taiwan's ability to thwart a Chinese attack on the country.

A series of explosions disturbed the sultry summer day, as heavily armed special forces parachuted into central Taiwan's Chingchuankang Airbase, spearheading a simulated Chinese invasion.

Taiwanese rapid reaction forces sprang into action, rushing into combat with machine-gun equipped Humvees as they struggled to prevent the invaders from gaining the precious foothold they would need to begin their conquest.

But then Chinese reinforcements began arriving. At first, only a handful of additional forces were ferried in by helicopter as the Taiwanese soldiers went face to the dirt to slug it out with their Chinese adversaries in a no-frills -- and slow-moving -- classic infantry battle. Chinese helicopters (which were in fact Taiwanese CH-47 Chinook transport helicopters) began dropping supplies and vehicles to support the invading horde.

Meanwhile, a lone Taiwanese OH-58 Kiowa scout helicopter hovered near the scene of the battle, no doubt providing small comfort to the beleaguered Taiwanese infantry, being a sure sign that help was coming.

Then, Taiwanese Avenger surface-to-air missile units began engaging advanced Chinese fighters (played by Taiwanese F-16 Falcon fighters) as they carried out precision airstrikes that shook the battlefield.

At last, the bulk of the Chinese force arrived, as more than 200 paratroopers joined the fray, jumping from low-flying C-130 Hercules transport aircraft.

The Taiwanese defenders were in trouble. Outnumbered and surprised, they had little chance of overcoming their foes.

Still, it may not have been Thermopylae, but they had held out long enough for the cavalry to arrive. With a roar of engines and a cascade of gunfire, Taiwanese CM-11 tanks and V150 armored personnel carriers rode to the rescue, while AH-1W Cobra attack helicopters rained death from above on the Communist aggressors.

The invaders were stopped, cold.

The day -- and the country -- were saved. All that was missing was a sunset for the victorious Taiwanese forces to ride into.

This was the latest in the annual series of Han Kuang military exercises.

A real-world scenario will probably not unfold with the clockwork precision and Hollywood style of yesterday's exercises, but the drill highlighted the lengths to which the MND is willing to go to demonstrate that it is taking the Chinese threat seriously.

"The exercise demonstrates that we are completely able to repel the enemy immediately if they launch a surprise attack against a major airbase," Major General Huang Chen-hua (黃承華), the commander of the military's special forces division, told reporters after the drill.

President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) personally observed the exercise -- which involved more than 2,100 service members -- along with dozens of military officers, dignitaries and journalists.

The drill comes at a time when China's military intentions are in the international spotlight.

"Despite the lack of an external threat, the Chinese government has actively expanded its arms bnuildup, increased its deployment of missiles, and strengthened its missiles' capabilities," Chen said in a speech after the exercise.