The military has deployed multiple medium and close-range air defense missile and artillery systems, anti-drone countermeasures and combat unit to defend Boai Special District (博愛特區), a defense official said yesterday. Boai District is home to the Presidential Office Building, the Ministry of National Defense and many other government buildings.
The official made the remarks after Japanese newspaper Sankei Shimbun in a report on Wednesday said China has expanded its military training mock-up of government buildings in Taipei, which includes the Presidential Office Building, by almost 300 percent since 2020.
Satellite images obtained by think tank Japan Institute for National Fundamentals of the 1,066km2 Zhurihe Training Base in Inner Mongolia, China’s largest military training ground, showed a newly constructed 280m tunnel connecting the mock Presidential Office Building to the mock Judicial Yuan, the report said.
Photo: Screen grab from the Ministry of National Defense’s Facebook page
Institute researcher Maki Nakagawa said that Beijing’s aim was to pressure Taiwan and send the message that even if Taipei builds tunnels, the nation’s leaders cannot run.
The report said that the mock-ups were to prepare for a potential invasion of Taiwan and are published as part of psychological warfare against the nation.
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has been making mock buildings of the Presidential Office Building, the Judicial Yuan and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for at least a decade, it added.
China Central Television in 2015 broadcast footage of the mock Presidential Office Building during live army exercises, and satellite images showed that construction for the mock Judicial Yuan building began in 2020 and was completed in 2021.
Next to the Judicial Yuan is a replica of the Ministry of Defense’s Reserve Command building, which began construction in November 2023 and was completed in April.
Satellite images from July 2022 showed the PLA erecting roadblocks at the crossroads leading to the fake Presidential Office Building and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building, then clearing them before advancing with armored vehicles.
Then, the following month the PLA deployed multiple armored vehicles and brigade-sized troops to combat the forces defending the Presidential Office Building.
Since August, armored vehicles and roadblocks could be seen on roads around the mock Presidential Office Building, suggesting that training continues, the report said.
An anonymous Taiwanese official yesterday acknowledged that the satellite images of the training base showed that the PLA has significantly improved the accuracy of the mock-up’s structures and terrain.
The increased precision of the reproduction indicates an intent to utilize the site to train PLA forces in conducting strikes against Taiwanese political and military leadership in the area, they said.
Taiwanese armed forces have responded by bolstering the defensive network protecting the Greater Taipei Metropolitan Region and its special zone, they added.
The focus on defensive operations in and around the nation’s capital during the recent iterations of the annual Han Kuang military exercises has vastly improved Taipei’s defenses, the official said.
The military has also deployed Patriot air defense systems and National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS) around Taipei to create overlapping missile interception zones in the air, they said.
Stinger missiles from Avenger weapon systems, Double Mount Stinger systems and man-portable launchers, as well as automated close-in defense emplacements supplement Patriot missiles and NASAMs for intercepting low-flying targets, they added.
The Presidential Office Building is protected by anti-drone systems deployed along the structure’s defensive perimeter, the official said.
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