The military simulated repelling a Chinese air landing assault on the strategically vital Penghu County today, and would later in the day "throttle" mobile Internet for the first time during annual war games.
The 10-day Han Kuang exercise kicked off last week, rehearsing various scenarios should China ever make good on threats to try and seize the nation by force.
Troops from the First Theater Command opened fire in the pre-dawn hours on a beach in Penghu, which sits in the Taiwan Strait, with M60A3 tanks, various artillery pieces and anti-aircraft guns.
Photo: Liu Yu-ching, Taipei Times
The troops were combining to form what the military called a "multi-layered" defense against a simulated enemy attempting a rapid coastal landing.
Penghu, which sits closer to the coast of the main island of Taiwan than to China, is seen by Taiwanese strategists as a potential first target for Beijing, which could try and take the islands and use them as a base to attack Taiwan with missiles and drones.
Reuters was given rare access to the exercise, observing ground troops loading tank ammunition and taking up firing positions in darkness before the drill began.
Photo: CNA
Reservists from Penghu took part in the exercise, part of their 14-day training program as Taiwan's military works to better integrate reserve forces into its operational planning and make its preparations more realistic.
MOBILE INTERNET
Later today in central Taiwan, the government is to deliberately slow mobile Internet speeds for the first time during the civil defense part of the drills, testing how citizens would communicate if bandwidth became scarce in emergencies ranging from disasters to a Chinese invasion.
Key services, from ATMs and traffic signals to emergency ambulance calls, would not be affected, and neither would landlines nor fixed Internet services.
The government has widely flagged the drill, on Friday afternoon sending a text message alert to mobile phones across Taiwan in both Chinese and English and posting a weekend video message on social media.
The central region drill is to take place today from 2:30pm to 3pm, covering Miaoli, Nantou, Changhua, Yunlin and Chiayi counties, as well as Taichung and Chiayi City.
The exercises in northern Taiwan are to be held from 2:30pm to 3pm on Thursday, covering Yilan and Hsinchu counties, alongside Keelung, Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan and Hsinchu City.
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