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.
MILITARY BOOST: The procurement was planned after Washington recommended that Taiwan increase its stock of air defense missiles, a defense official said yesterday Taiwan is planning to order an additional four PAC-3 MSE systems and up to 500 missiles in response to an increasing number of missile sites on China’s east coast, a defense official said yesterday. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the proposed order would be placed using the defense procurement special budget, adding that about NT$1 trillion (US$32,88 billion) has been allocated for the budget. The proposed acquisition would include launchers, missiles, and a lower tier air and missile defense radar system, they said The procurement was planned after the US military recommended that Taiwan increase
POLITICAL AGENDA: Beijing’s cross-strait Mid-Autumn Festival events are part of a ‘cultural united front’ aimed at promoting unification with Taiwan, academics said Local authorities in China have been inviting Taiwanese to participate in cross-strait Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations centered around ideals of “family and nation,” a move Taiwanese academics said politicizes the holiday to promote the idea of “one family” across the Taiwan Strait. Sources said that China’s Fujian Provincial Government is organizing about 20 cross-strait-themed events in cities including Quanzhou, Nanping, Sanming and Zhangzhou. In Zhangzhou, a festival scheduled for Wednesday is to showcase Minnan-language songs and budaixi (布袋戲) glove puppetry to highlight cultural similarities between Taiwan and the region. Elsewhere, Jiangsu Province is hosting more than 10 similar celebrations in Taizhou, Changzhou, Suzhou,
TWO HEAVYWEIGHTS: Trump and Xi respect each other, are in a unique position to do something great, and they want to do that together, the US envoy to China said The administration of US President Donald Trump has told Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) “we don’t want any coercion, but we want [the Taiwan dispute] resolved peacefully,” US ambassador to China David Perdue said in a TV interview on Thursday. Trump “has said very clearly, we are not changing the ‘one China’ policy, we are going to adhere to the Taiwan Relations Act, the three communiques and the ‘six assurances’ that were done under [former US president Ronald] Reagan,” Perdue told Joe Kernen, cohost of CNBC’s Squawk Box. The act, the Three Joint Communiques and the “six assurances” are guidelines for Washington
DEEPENING TIES: The two are boosting cooperation in response to China’s coercive actions and have signed MOUs on search-and-rescue and anti-smuggling efforts Taiwan and Japan are moving to normalize joint coast guard training and considering the inclusion of other allies, the Japanese Yomiuri Shimbun reported yesterday. Both nations’ coast guards in June sent vessels to the seas south of the Sakishima Islands to conduct joint training, the report said, adding that it was the second joint maritime training exercise since the nations severed formal diplomatic ties in September 1972. Japan dispatched the Nagoya Coast Guard’s Mizuho, a 134m, 6,000-tonne patrol vessel which can carry a helicopter, while the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) sent the 126m, 4,000-tonne Yunlin, one of its largest vessels, the report