The military yesterday held exercises and combat readiness demonstrations in various parts of the island as part of its training routine in the lead-up to the Lunar New Year vacation.
Off the Pingtung coast, the Marine Corps launched an amphibious landing drill code-named Lienhsin (
Officials with the Ministry of National Defense said the exercise is routine and had been announced last year.
The two-hour exercise began with frogmen simulating a mine-removing operation under cover of F-16 fighters. The exercise involved more than 70 vessels of different types.
Marines of the crack 66th Division, supported by tanks, heavy weapons and logistical trains then landed on the beaches to "retake" the territory.
In another exercise, the air force and the army demonstrated their combat readiness in Hualien as part of their efforts to reassure the public that they have made proper preparations for any military threats that might occur during the Lunar New Year vacation.
A squadron of F-16 jet fighters, inaugurated last December, showcased their capability to send planes into the air within six minutes of receiving an alarm.
The squadron is affiliated with the 401st Wing of the Air Force, which has its headquarters near the top-secret Chiashan (
It is the first squadron of its kind to be established in eastern Taiwan. The strategic importance of this area has increased in recent years now that China has the ability to attack Taiwan from the east.
Major-General Peng Sheng-chu (
Of all its combat training assignments, Peng said defense maneuvers for ground attack were the most difficult for the squadron to organize owing to a lack of suitable locations for practice.
Major Kung Hsiang-wei (孔祥偉), an F-16 pilot, said he and his colleagues have a heavy workload to maintain the security of Taiwan's air space over the eastern coast as they are the only squadron of this kind in the region.
Kung expressed a strong desire for Taiwan to obtain advanced medium-range "fire-and-forget" AIM-120 air-to-air missiles from the US.
"With AIM-120s, our F-16s will have parity with China's Su-27s. The AIM-7 Sparrow missile, which the F-16s are now equipped with, is also a good weapon. But the acquisition of AIM-120s will further strengthen the combat capability of the F-16s," Kung said.
The army also demonstrated the combat preparations of its tank and Hawk missile units stationed in the vicinity of the 401st Wing of the Air Force and the Chiashan base.
The Hawk missile unit in Hualien is one of three missile bases belonging to the army in eastern Taiwan maintained to counter air attacks. The other two are located in Ilan and Taitung, respectively.
The defense ministry, meanwhile, downplayed the significance of the war games yesterday, saying "it was part of scheduled exercises to review the combat capability of the military."
"There is no need to associate the exercise with any [political] purpose," a spokesman added.
Fearing China might attack an outlying island, the military has acted to boost its offshore island defense capability by increasing firepower while continuing with its restructuring plans to scale back troop numbers.
To test out the result of these arrangements the military held a major exercise on Penghu in April.
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