The first political-military simulation independent of the Han Kuang military exercises by the administration of President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) is to be held next month, with the scale of the simulation to be greater than any held under the administration of former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), a source said.
The simulation is to focus on the potential scenarios of open conflict or war on the Korean Peninsula, in the East China Sea or in the South China Sea in which China attacks Taiwan with missiles and cyberattacks, the source said.
In the simulation, Tsai would be presumed not to be in the Presidential Office Building or her official residence, and would be moved to a designated area for pickup by a CM-32 Clouded Leopard armored vehicle and transported to the Yuanshan Command Center in Taipei’s Dazhi (大直) area, the source added.
There is to be a simulated attack on the president’s motorcade by clandestine Chinese “fifth column” forces while en route to the command center, the source said, adding that the Republic of China Marines 66th Brigade, stationed at the Fuxinggang (復興崗) military academy in Taipei’s Beitou District (北投), would relieve the motorcade.
The simulation is to be the first time the brigade’s response time is measured since it was stationed in Taipei, the source added.
The source declined to comment on whether the simulation would include a transfer from the main command center to a reserve command center, as was simulated in the Yushan simulation in 2008.
Such simulations have been held 11 times since the first in 2005, with the simulation in 2008 being the largest, the source said, adding that “the Tsai administration aims to at least match the scale of simulations under former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).”
Similar simulations under the Ma administration usually lasted only one or two days, due to fears that they would affect cross-strait relations, the source said.
When Chen stepped down in 2008, the Ma administration received 10 boxes of simulation data, the source said, adding that only six boxes of data were handed over to the Tsai administration.
Representatives of the US usually attended such simulations under Ma and Chen, but officials of the US Department of State and US Department of Defense have declined to comment on whether representatives would attend next month’s events, the source added.
Running the simulation independently of the Han Kuang exercises — previous simulations were often held immediately prior to the military drills — might suggest that the two could be held separately in the future, the source said, but added that no such decision had been made.
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