Hankuang exercise focuses on 2006

The 20th annual Hankuang exercise, which is to kick off this month and will not be concluded until November, is to feature a computer simulation of joint operations in a war with China in 2006, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday.

The ministry denied any political considerations in the choice of that year as the time of a possible war with China.

The year 2006 has been announced by President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) as the time for writing a new constitution, a move considered by China to be a step toward independence.

Major General Li Chieh-chia (李界佳), chief of the joint operations department of the office of the deputy chief of the general staff for operations and plans, said there were no political considerations in the arrangement of courses for the Hankuang exercise.

Li did not specify the content of the computer simulation, such as what type of war could possibly break out in the Taiwan Strait in 2006.

"The joint operations mechanism is to be tested in the exercise. The mechanism was developed from plans worked out in 2001. It was incorporated into the existing structure of the military on Feb. 1," Li said.

"In the Hankuang No. 20 exercise, all participating troops will maneuver in joint operations," he said.

Though not clearly describing what sort of joint operations were to be adopted in the exercise, Li stressed that they would play a vital role in the defense of the country against China's possible modes of war in the future. He said these would be focused on "non-linear," "no-contact" and "asymmetrical" types of warfare.

The Hankuang exercise is to be divided into three stages: The preparations of joint operations war plans, the computer simulation of joint operations in an imaginary war in 2006 and the evaluation of the effectiveness of joint operations.

The first two stages will deal mainly with staff planning, while the third one is to involve real-life deployment of troops, mainly in the south of the country. The last stage will not be open to the press.

A defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said a new supercomputer bought from the US is to be used for the first time in this year's Hankuang exercise.

"The supercomputer is to run the simulation of a war in 2006. The operating system was provided by the US. It is expected to be better than a similar one developed by the Chung Shan Institute of Science and Technology for another supercomputer that had been used in the past few years' Hankuang-series exercises," the official said.