Retired US Navy rear admiral Mark Montgomery in Washington on Friday praised Taiwan for mobilizing more than 20,000 reservists in its Han Kuang military exercises and suggested that Taiwan and the US could hold joint military exercises.
Seeing 20,000-plus reservists take part in this year’s drills was a “great first step,” because it is one of the key issues for Taiwan, said Montgomery, who is senior director of the Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation at the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies after retiring from the military in 2017.
“Taiwan has to redesign their active duty-reserve balance to get it right,” he said. “That’s how they make more effective use of the reservists.”
Photo: CNA
Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said that up to 22,000 reservists participated in the drills this year, the highest number in the history of the exercises.
However, Montgomery expressed concern that the Han Kuang drills remained “unilateral, Taiwan-only” exercises.
“Maybe there are American observers there, but really it’s a Taiwan exercise,” he said.
Taiwan is not going to fight the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) alone, because it is not a fight it can win, nor is it a conflict that Taiwan wants, he added.
He called for bilateral military exercises between Taiwan and the US, adding that the Han Kuang drills should integrate US naval forces, along with US Air Force and ground troops.
“Our Congress anticipated this and in the Taiwan Enhanced Resilience Act of 2023, which was passed over two years ago now, Congress directed the [US] Department of Defense to increase the amount of exercising with our Taiwan counterparts,” he said.
The Han Kuang exercises is the perfect platform for such training, Montgomery added.
Taiwan and the US need to do as much as possible to enhance interoperability between their military forces to deter the CCP from doing “anything foolish,” he said.
Montgomery said that under the administration of US President Donald Trump, the US would intervene if the CCP attempted to coerce Taiwan into unification, or into disavowing any type of independence or sovereignty.
“I believe that the Trump administration understands that Taiwan is in the United States’ national security interest,” he said.
Montgomery is scheduled to visit Taiwan at the end of this month to take part in war games to be held by the Research Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology in Taipei.
The simulation would focus on an energy-based economic warfare scenario, combined with cyberattacks, to examine the vulnerabilities of Taiwan’s power grid and explore ways to help prevent the Chinese People’s Liberation Army or China’s coast guard from disrupting Taiwan’s imported supply chain.
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