The annual Han Kuang exercises are to begin next month with live-fire, anti-landing exercises in outlying Penghu County, while the military is to simulate for the first time the combat capability of US-made F-35 jets in a cross-strait conflict scenario.
Like previous Hang Kuang exercises, this year’s consist of two parts — a computer simulation of an attack by China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA), followed by nationwide field exercises to test the results of the simulation, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday.
The first-stage simulation is to be conducted from May 1 to May 5 to simulate a PLA attack on Taiwan to test the military’s capabilities in countering landing operations and a naval blockade, as well as the ability to collect intelligence and preserve key military facilities and weaponry.
Photo: Tu Chu-min, Taipei Times
“The simulation will be conducted factoring in China’s military buildup, with three aircraft carriers, stealth fighter jets and new missiles to enter service by 2025,” said Lieutenant General Chiang Chen-chung (姜振中), director of the ministry’s Office for Operations and Planning.
“We will test two defense strategies. The first is conditioned on the acquisition of F-35 jets and the second without F-35s,” Chiang said.
Lockheed Martin F-35s are a desired procurement of the military, as their short takeoff and vertical landing capabilities, as well as their advanced stealth features, would allow the air force to retain combat capacity should air bases be destroyed.
It is to be the first time that F-35s are a factor in the exercises.
“In case we do not acquire F-35s, we are in the process of upgrading F-16s, Mirage 2000s and Indigenous Defense Fighters (IDF), as well as developing new weapons. The simulation will be based on realistic analysis, instead of fictitious war scenarios,” Chiang said.
The second-stage field exercises are to be held from May 22 to May 26, with a large-scale, live-fire drill to be conducted in Penghu.
The Marine Corps are to initiate a landing operation to simulate a PLA attack and test defensive troops’ ability to protect critical facilities and strategic positions. The armed forces will then launch a joint operation to retake the Penghu archipelago.
Units and weapons to be engaged during the field exercises include Cheng Kung-class frigates, Chinchiang-class corvettes, Tuo Jiang-class corvettes, F-16 jets, IDF jets, AH-64E Apaches, AH-1H Super Cobras, RT2000 Artillery Multiple Launch Rocket systems, M60A3 tanks and light weapons.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) is expected to supervise the exercises, ministry spokesman Major General Chen Chung-chi (陳中吉) said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday voiced dissatisfaction with the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans- Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), whose latest meeting, concluded earlier the same day, appeared not to address the country’s application. In a statement, MOFA said the CPTPP commission had "once again failed to fairly process Taiwan’s application," attributing the inaction to the bloc’s "succumbing to political pressure," without elaborating. Taiwan submitted its CPTPP application under the name "Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu" on Sept. 22, 2021 -- less than a week after China
THE GOOD WORD: More than 100 colleges on both sides of the Pacific will work together to bring students to Taiwan so they can learn Mandarin where it is spoken A total of 102 universities from Taiwan and the US are collaborating in a push to promote Taiwan as the first-choice place to learn Mandarin, with seven Mandarin learning centers stood up in the US to train and support teachers, the Foundation for International Cooperation in Higher Education of Taiwan (FICHET) said. At the annual convention of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages held over the weekend in New Orleans, Louisiana, a Taiwan Pavilion was jointly run by 17 representative teams from the FICHET, the Overseas Community Affairs Council, the Steering Committee for the Test of Proficiency-Huayu, the
A home-style restaurant opened by a Taiwanese woman in Quezon City in Metro Manila has been featured in the first-ever Michelin Guide honoring exceptional restaurants in the Philippines. The restaurant, Fong Wei Wu (豐味屋), was one of 74 eateries to receive a “Michelin Selected” honor in the guide, while one restaurant received two Michelin stars, eight received one star and 25 were awarded a “Bib Gourmand.” The guide, which was limited to restaurants in Metro Manila and Cebu, was published on Oct. 30. In an interview, Feng Wei Wu’s owner and chef, Linda, said that as a restaurateur in her 60s, receiving an
MORE RETALIATION: China would adopt a long-term pressure strategy to prevent other countries or future prime ministers following in Sanae Takaichi’s steps, an academic said Taiwan should maintain communications with Japan, as Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is to lead a revision of security documents, Taiwanese academics said yesterday. Tensions have risen between Japan and China over remarks by Takaichi earlier this month that the use of force against Taiwan would constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan. Prospect Foundation president Lai I-chung (賴怡忠) yesterday said Takaichi’s stance regarding Taiwan is the same as past Japanese prime ministers, but her position is clearer than that of her predecessors Fumio Kishida and Shigeru Ishiba. Although Japan views a “Taiwan contingency” as a “survival-threatening situation,” which would allow its military to
RSS