The annual Hankuang-series military exercise kicked off quietly in mid-August across the country, but is set to build to a climax over the next two weeks, military sources told the Taipei Times yesterday.
At the end of the exercise, the military plans to display a mock battle scenario to President Chen Shui-bian (
It will be the first time Chen has reviewed or supervised a military exercise as commander-in-chief since taking office on May 20.
This year's Hankuang exercise, called Hankuang No. 16, is a slimmed-down version of initial plans for large-scale troop deployments and tests of weapons. Officials are seeking to avoid fueling tensions in the Taiwan Strait.
Despite being scaled down, the largest exercise of the year still retains its original function as the main test for the combat readiness of troops.
Almost all combat units across the country will take part in the exercise, although most are not asked to play a significant role. This year, a group largely composed of enlistees will participate in minor drills, leaving the bulk of forces in camp.
The drills are in large part aimed at training enlistees to set up and operate field command posts. Participating officers experience what it would be like to command troops and control the battle from the posts.
The climax of the exercise, however, is a real-life maneuver pitting troops against each other at an army base in Hukou township, Hsinchu County. The exercise will involve two armored brigades based in the vicinity.
One is the 542nd Brigade based in Hukou, and the other the 351st Brigade from Taipei County's Linkou township. Both are of the combined arms brigades, which have replaced the earlier use of divisions as the main combat units of the army.
The Hankuang No. 16 exercise will be the first in which combined arms brigades will be formally mobilized against each other on a large scale.
Reflecting the changed political climate, the scale of the troop maneuver in this year's Hankuang exercise -- typically the most significant exercise of the year -- is no comparison to that in April's Chengkung exercise on Penghu island, which simulated defense against troops invading on the island's coast.
The military leadership had invited then President Lee Teng-hui (
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