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.
NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT: An official said that Guan Guan’s comments had gone beyond the threshold of free speech, as she advocated for the destruction of the ROC China-born media influencer Guan Guan’s (關關) residency permit has been revoked for repeatedly posting pro-China content that threatens national security, the National Immigration Agency said yesterday. Guan Guan has said many controversial things in her videos posted to Douyin (抖音), including “the red flag will soon be painted all over Taiwan” and “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China,” while expressing hope for expedited “reunification.” The agency received multiple reports alleging that Guan Guan had advocated for armed reunification last year. After investigating, the agency last month issued a notice requiring her to appear and account for her actions. Guan Guan appeared as required,
Japan and the Philippines yesterday signed a defense pact that would allow the tax-free provision of ammunition, fuel, food and other necessities when their forces stage joint training to boost deterrence against China’s growing aggression in the region and to bolster their preparation for natural disasters. Japan has faced increasing political, trade and security tensions with China, which was angered by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s remark that a Chinese attack on Taiwan would be a survival-threatening situation for Japan, triggering a military response. Japan and the Philippines have also had separate territorial conflicts with Beijing in the East and South China
A strong cold air mass is expected to arrive tonight, bringing a change in weather and a drop in temperature, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The coldest time would be early on Thursday morning, with temperatures in some areas dipping as low as 8°C, it said. Daytime highs yesterday were 22°C to 24°C in northern and eastern Taiwan, and about 25°C to 28°C in the central and southern regions, it said. However, nighttime lows would dip to about 15°C to 16°C in central and northern Taiwan as well as the northeast, and 17°C to 19°C elsewhere, it said. Tropical Storm Nokaen, currently
PAPERS, PLEASE: The gang exploited the high value of the passports, selling them at inflated prices to Chinese buyers, who would treat them as ‘invisibility cloaks’ The Yilan District Court has handed four members of a syndicate prison terms ranging from one year and two months to two years and two months for their involvement in a scheme to purchase Taiwanese passports and resell them abroad at a massive markup. A Chinese human smuggling syndicate purchased Taiwanese passports through local criminal networks, exploiting the passports’ visa-free travel privileges to turn a profit of more than 20 times the original price, the court said. Such criminal organizations enable people to impersonate Taiwanese when entering and exiting Taiwan and other countries, undermining social order and the credibility of the nation’s
RSS