Prompted by communication blackouts during the war in Ukraine and heightened military tensions across the Taiwan Strait, the Executive Yuan has launched drills to test the handling of critical infrastructure in the event of war, a person familiar with the matter said.
The Executive Yuan since June has been conducting drills, to run until the end of this month, to test the resilience of trains, ports, harbors, power plants, liquefied natural gas terminals, broadcasting towers, cable television stations and other parts of the nation’s infrastructure, the person said.
The drills were based on a worst-case scenario, in which all critical infrastructure points were simultaneously attacked, the source said.
Photo: Liao Chen-hui, Taipei Times
Part of the goal was to train staff how to react in the event of war, and how to initiate emergency systems and resume operations in the shortest amount of time, the person said.
The administration of President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has over the past few years been incorporating emergency drills into its disaster prevention efforts to enhance its responses to natural and human emergencies, the source said.
Separately, the navy conducted a “111-2” joint exercise on intercepting operations in waters off Hualien and Taitung counties on Wednesday, the Chinese-language Youth Daily News and the Military News Agency said.
The exercise involved the mobile Hai Feng Shore-Based Anti-ship Missile Squadron, the Marine Corps’ 99th Marine Brigade and the Hualien County Military Police unit. It simulated foreign hostile undercover agents hijacking mobile missile launcher trucks to interrupt communication links, the reports said.
The defending troops fended off the simulated attack using truck-mounted 20mm cannons and 40mm grenade launchers, they said.
The joint exercise with the marines verfied cross-unit support capabilities, while drills using the military’s soldiers, vehicles and arms helped provide a “live” experience to evaluate and enhance troop capabilities for shore-based anti-surface operations, the military said.
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