The commencement yesterday of the live-fire component of the annual Han Kuang military exercises, Taiwan’s major war games involving all military branches, focused on testing the military’s preservation and maintenance of combat capabilities in the event of a full-scale Chinese invasion.
The 39th edition of the annual event officially began at 6am after the Ministry of National Defense’s Joint Operations Command Center, also known as the Hengshan Command Center, announced the initiation of the five-day live-fire drills to test the military’s capability to fend off a Chinese invasion.
As part of the drills, air force fighter jets that were originally deployed in the western part of Taiwan were dispatched to Hualien Air Base in the east early yesterday in a simulation of an invasion, the ministry said.
Photo: Yu Tai-lang, Taipei Times
This was done to make sure the main backbones of the nation’s fighter jets on the west side of Taiwan that is closer to the Chinese mainland would be able to preserve their combat readiness on the eastern part of the nation, it said.
All of the nation’s major naval vessels left their home ports early yesterday and sailed to designated locations off the coast in preparation for confronting enemy forces and to deploy naval mines to slow down an enemy invasion, the ministry said.
Reservists were simultaneously called up by the military and asked to report to designated locations as a preventive measure in anticipation of an enemy invasion, it added.
Photo: CNA
The annual exercises, which have served as Taiwan’s major war games since 1984, consist of live-fire drills and computerized war games, and are meant to test the nation’s combat readiness in the face of a possible Chinese invasion.
This year’s tabletop exercises were staged in May.
The five-day live-fire exercises are to run until Friday.
With Typhoon Doksuri approaching, the military yesterday announced that it had canceled an emergency takeoff and landing drill at the civilian Taitung Fengnian Airport planned for today.
The planned drill at Fengnian, the first of its kind since the airport opened in 1981, would have involved F-16 jets and C-130H Hercules transport aircraft, the ministry said.
The ministry has scheduled an anti-takeover drill for tomorrow at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, the country’s primary international gateway.
Should the drill in Taoyuan go ahead as planned, it would be the first time such an exercise would have been held at the nation’s busiest civilian airport.
Military spokesman Major General Sun Li-fang (孫立方) hinted that the ministry could cancel other parts of the Han Kuang exercises due to Typhoon Doksuri, with Taiwan expected to feel its impact tomorrow and on Thursday, the Central Weather Bureau said.
US-CHINA SUMMIT: MOFA welcomed US reassurance of no change in its Taiwan policy; Trump said he did not comment when Xi talked of opposing independence US President Donald Trump yesterday said he has not made a decision on whether to move forward with a major arms package for Taiwan after hearing concerns about it from Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Trump’s comments on Taiwan came as he flew back to Washington after wrapping up critical talks in which both leaders said important progress was made in stabilizing US-China relations even as deep differences persist between the world’s two biggest powers on Iran and Taiwan. “I will make a determination,” Trump said, adding: “I’ll be making decisions. But, you know, I think the last thing we need right
SECURITY: Taipei presses the US for arms supplies, saying the arms sales are not only a reflection of the US security commitment to Taiwan but also serve as a mutual deterrent against regional threats Taiwan is committed to preserving the cross-strait “status quo” and contributing to regional peace and stability, the Presidential Office said yesterday. “It is an undeniable fact that the Republic of China is a sovereign and independent democratic nation,” Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) reiterated, adding that Beijing has no right to claim sovereignty over Taiwan. The statements came after US President Donald Trump warned against Taiwanese independence. Trump wrapped up a state visit to Beijing on Friday, during which Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had pressed him not to support Taiwan. Taiwan depends heavily on US security backing to deter China from carrying
The subsidiary of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) in Kumamoto, Japan, turned a profit in the first quarter of this year, marking the first time the first fab of the unit has become profitable since mass production started at the end of 2024. According to the contract chipmaker’s financial statement released on Friday, Japan Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing Inc (JASM), a joint venture running the fab in Kumamoto, posted NT$951 million (US$30.19 million) in profit in the January-to-March period, compared with a loss of NT$1.39 billion in the previous quarter, and a loss of NT$3.25 billion in the first quarter of
RESOLUTE BACKING: Two Republican senators are planning to introduce legislation that would impose immediate sanctions on China if it attempts to invade Taiwan US House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson on Sunday reaffirmed US congressional support for Taiwan, saying the US and “all freedom-loving people” have a stake in preventing China from seizing Taiwan by force. Johnson made the remarks in an interview with Fox News Sunday on US President Donald Trump’s summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) last week. In an interview that aired on Friday on Fox News, just as Trump wrapped up a high-stakes visit to China, he said he has yet to green-light a new US$14 billion arms package to Taiwan and that it “depends on China.” “It’s a very good
RSS