The Han Kuang military drills entered their seventh day today, with a focus on prolonged defensive operations.
Units simulated a scenario in which the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) successfully established beachheads in an invasion of Taiwan, requiring units to block its advance inland toward Taipei.
In Taipei, the 202nd Military Police Command practiced delaying a simulated PLA advance into the city by blocking and fortifying the Wanban Bridge (萬板大橋) that connects New Taipei City’s Banciao District District (板橋) with Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), closing the bridge from 11pm yesterday to 6am today.
Photo: Chen Yi-kuan, Taipei Times
The drill began with military police building a four-tier blockade on the bridge within two hours in anticipation of incoming PLA troops.
The temporary 690m-long blockade was made up of roadblocks, civilian buses and barbed wire barricades, as well as newly acquired Hesco bastions: modern, collapsible barriers made of wire mesh and fabric.
Used in Iraq and Afghanistan, these barriers were originally designed for flood control and military fortifications, and have the advantage of accelerating the construction of temporary defenses.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
During the drill, military police first used drones to detect the PLA's deployment remotely before simulating opening fire at the Chinese troops.
The second part of the drill simulated PLA troops breaking through three of the four levels of the blockade set up by Taiwan's forces before being fired on by Taiwanese snipers from high points.
The exercise was a continuation of drills from yesterday, during which soldiers practiced using the city’s MRT system to reinforce positions, reach a target area and engage the enemy.
Also in the north, the 269 Mechanized Infantry Brigade carried out defensive exercises against a simulated enemy landing in the Port of Taipei in New Taipei City's Bali District (八里), seeking to hold key strategic positions.
In Lieyu (Little Kinmen, 烈嶼), which lies to the west of Kinmen County's main island, a garrison was deployed to Kinmen Bridge (金門大橋) to guard critical infrastructure and counter an enemy invasion.
Reservists continued to participate in the military exercises and training in various locations around Taiwan.
In Miaoli County, reservists in the 302nd Infantry Brigade continued simulated combat drills and practiced battlefield medical evacuation operations.
Additionally, civilian urban resilience drills started today in central Taiwan, including Taichung, Miaoli County, Nantou County and Changhua County.
They are to continue tomorrow in the south, on Thursday in northern Taiwan and on Friday in the east.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
NON-RED SUPPLY: Boosting the nation’s drone industry is becoming increasingly urgent as China’s UAV dominance could become an issue in a crisis, an analyst said Taiwan’s drone exports to Europe grew 41.7-fold from 2024 to last year, with demand from Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression the most likely driver of growth, a study showed. The Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET) in a statement on Wednesday said it found that many of Taiwan’s uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) sales were from Poland and the Czech Republic. These countries likely transferred the drones to Ukraine to aid it in its fight against the Russian invasion that started in 2022, it said. Despite the gains, Taiwan is not the dominant drone exporter to these markets, ranking second and fourth
The eastern extension of the Taipei MRT Red Line could begin operations as early as late June, the Taipei Department of Rapid Transit Systems said yesterday. Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said it is considering offering one month of free rides on the new section to mark its opening. Construction progress on the 1.4km extension, which is to run from the current terminal Xiangshan Station to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, was 90.6 percent complete by the end of last month, the department said in a report to the Taipei City Council's Transportation Committee. While construction began in October 2016 with an
RSS