The next installment of the annual Han Kuang military exercise is to reflect the military’s doctrinal shift from annihilation of the enemy to prevention of victory for the aggressor, a military official said yesterday.
The 34th Han Kuang exercise is to consist of a computer-assisted military simulation from Monday to Friday next week, as well as live-fire drills from July 4 to July 8, the general staff’s Chief of Joint Operations Major General Yeh Kuo-hui (葉國煇) told a news conference in Taipei.
The computer-assisted drill is designed to examine the soundness of the military’s Ku An operation plan and its success is not contingent on achieving victory, he said, adding that this would be a departure from past practice.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
The live-fire portion is to emphasize realism, mobilization of civilian assets, augmentation of the military’s reserve capabilities, combat under degraded command and control capabilities, and integration of the annual Wan An air raid drill, Yeh said.
For some portions of live-fire exercise, civilian assets — including Chunghwa Telecom Co (CHT, 中華電信), industries near the Ching Chuan Kang Air Base in Taichung and civilian drone operators — would be incorporated, he said.
Civilian organizations are to assist in tasks such as maintaining communication channels with cell sites, repairing damaged runways, battlefield imaging and information management, he said.
The growing gap in military resources between Taiwan and China has made the military’s traditional doctrine of emphasizing the destruction of enemy forces “not suited for the times and unachievable,” a Ministry of National Defense official said on condition of anonymity.
The live-fire drills are to involve mock air, sea and land battles during the day and night, with military units assuming attacking and defending roles, the official said.
The mock battles are intended to portray the asymmetric warfare conditions that the military believes to most realistically simulate a war with China, so it is reorienting its strategy toward preventing China’s People’s Liberation Army from conquering Taiwan, he said.
The doctrine — which had previously been elaborated by military officers — is now the guiding principle for building the armed forces, he said.
The focus on asymmetric warfare is to result in an increased emphasis on mobility, and distributing capabilities geographically and systematically to mitigate vulnerability from targeted strikes, he said.
In arms procurement, it signals a preference for weapons that prioritize efficiency, survivability, precision-strike capabilities and quality over quantity, he said.
The doctrine might favor the procurement of fast and stealthy systems that are compatible with swarm tactics, including rapid mine deployment-capable minelayers, submarines, guided missile attack boats, mobile air-defense systems, mobile anti-armor platforms, precision guided munition-firing tube artillery and self-propelled multiple launch rocket systems, he said.
The exercise’s arrangement shows that the military intends to distribute its systems and build up reserves by commandeering civilian drone resources, he said.
Two US House of Representatives committees yesterday condemned China’s attempt to orchestrate a crash involving Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim’s (蕭美琴) car when she visited the Czech Republic last year as vice president-elect. Czech local media in March last year reported that a Chinese diplomat had run a red light while following Hsiao’s car from the airport, and Czech intelligence last week told local media that Chinese diplomats and agents had also planned to stage a demonstrative car collision. Hsiao on Saturday shared a Reuters news report on the incident through her account on social media platform X and wrote: “I
SHIFT PRIORITIES: The US should first help Taiwan respond to actions China is already taking, instead of focusing too heavily on deterring a large-scale invasion, an expert said US Air Force leaders on Thursday voiced concerns about the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) missile capabilities and its development of a “kill web,” and said that the US Department of Defense’s budget request for next year prioritizes bolstering defenses in the Indo-Pacific region due to the increasing threat posed by China. US experts said that a full-scale Chinese invasion of Taiwan is risky and unlikely, with Beijing more likely to pursue coercive tactics such as political warfare or blockades to achieve its goals. Senior air force and US Space Force leaders, including US Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink and
‘BUILDING PARTNERSHIPS’: The US military’s aim is to continue to make any potential Chinese invasion more difficult than it already is, US General Ronald Clark said The likelihood of China invading Taiwan without contest is “very, very small” because the Taiwan Strait is under constant surveillance by multiple countries, a US general has said. General Ronald Clark, commanding officer of US Army Pacific (USARPAC), the US Army’s largest service component command, made the remarks during a dialogue hosted on Friday by Washington-based think tank the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Asked by the event host what the Chinese military has learned from its US counterpart over the years, Clark said that the first lesson is that the skill and will of US service members are “unmatched.” The second
Czech officials have confirmed that Chinese agents surveilled Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) during her visit to Prague in March 2024 and planned a collision with her car as part of an “unprecedented” provocation by Beijing in Europe. Czech Military Intelligence learned that their Chinese counterparts attempted to create conditions to carry out a demonstrative incident involving Hsiao, which “did not go beyond the preparation stage,” agency director Petr Bartovsky told Czech Radio in a report yesterday. In addition, a Chinese diplomat ran a red light to maintain surveillance of the Taiwanese
RSS