President William Lai (賴清德) made a late-night dash in the back of an armored personnel carrier to a command center as part of the Han Kuang Exercises, which entered their second day yesterday.
Taiwan began the 10 days of drills on Wednesday, which are made up of exercises designed to bolster preparations should China ever attempt to take Taiwan by force.
Yesterday’s drills featured exercises across Taiwan, with the north focusing on coastal defenses, central Taiwan trialing logistics procedures, military units in the south conducting a road barrier deployment drill and armed troops in Taitung County heading to outlying islands for tactical training.
Photo courtesy of the Presidential Office
The Presidential Office said that Lai and other senior officials had been taken the previous night to a command center, and showed images of him wearing body armor and a helmet getting into the back of an armored vehicle.
The officials “conducted drills on commanding defensive operations and maintaining the continued functioning of government during emergency situations,” office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said in a statement.
The drills were intended to review the command structure, interagency coordination and emergency-response mechanisms, ensuring that the government can continue operating effectively in the face of “unforeseen circumstances,” Kuo said.
Photo: Cheng Yu-chen, AFP
It was the first time that Lai, who took office in 2024, has taken part as president in the Wan Chun plan to evacuate Taiwan’s leader to a safe place during war or other crisis.
Troops and equipment have fanned out across Taiwan in the Han Kuang drills, which are also testing new systems and tactics.
Lai yesterday boarded a Coast Guard Administration (CGA) vessel docked at Taipei Port in New Taipei City’s Bali District (八里) to observe coastal defense operations.
Photo: Cheng Yu-chen, AFP
He watched missile launchers being fitted on one of the CGA’s Anping-class catamarans that has space for the weapons, which are normally carried by the navy’s Tuo Chiang-class fast-attack warships.
He later visited a loading area at the port to learn about mine deployment operations and defensive measures carried out by the army’s 53rd Engineer Group.
Other drills in northern Taiwan included the deployment of Patriot and Tien Kung (天弓, Sky Bow) missile launcher units to tactical positions at riverside parks in Taipei and New Taipei City.
Photo: Ann Wang, Reuters
To prevent sensitive operating systems from being photographed, troops covered the launcher vehicles’ control panels with camouflage netting, while armed personnel guarded the areas.
Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a researcher at the government-funded Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the primary purpose of deploying mobile air defense missile systems is to preserve combat effectiveness.
Open spaces such as parks in Taipei are preferred, as they minimize disruption to civilian facilities, Su said.
The missile systems are designed to operate with their launch and command units separated by several dozen kilometers, which improves their ability to survive an attack, he said, adding that they form part of Taiwan’s layered air defense network.
In Changhua County, troops conducted wartime readiness training, including drone reconnaissance drills, while testing military-civilian coordination and logistics procedures by having road barrier materials delivered by civilian vehicles.
Reservists practiced drone operations, close-quarters combat and setting up simulated machine-gun and artillery positions.
Military units in southern Taiwan conducted a road barrier deployment drill at Kaohsiung International Airport, with engineers setting up obstacles to simulate the defense of key transportation hubs. More than 30 reservists also took part.
More than 100 armed troops at Taitung’s Fugang Fishing Port (富岡漁港) boarded passenger vessels under cover, and loaded weapons and supplies before heading to Green Island (綠島) and Lanyu (Orchid Island, 蘭嶼) for tactical training.
The drills in eastern Taiwan included establishing defensive positions and conducting drone reconnaissance exercises.
The drills were intended to test the ability to reinforce outlying islands, the military said, adding that personnel carried out the loading, transport and control of weapons and supplies swiftly.
The exercise was based on a scenario in which Chinese People’s Liberation Army forces attempt to seize the two islands as forward bases for an attack on Taiwan proper, using them as locations for helicopter and drone operations, a source familiar with the matter said.
The military practiced rapidly reinforcing the islands to prevent their capture.
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