Taiwan’s military on Tuesday conducted a series of emergency combat readiness drills in New Taipei in response to two days of military exercises by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army around Taiwan.
According to the Military News Agency (MNA), the 53rd Engineer Group, under the Third Theater of Operations, carried out river blockade maneuvers at the mouth of the Tamsui River. The exercise simulated a scenario where engineers quickly deployed obstacles to obstruct enemy forces attempting to use the waterway to invade.
Photo courtesy of the Military News Agency
The drill came one day after China’s Eastern Theater Command launched on Monday its “Justice Mission 2025” exercises, which designated five maritime and airspace zones around Taiwan and culminated in Tuesday’s live-fire drills which concluded at 6 p.m.
During the exercise, engineers deployed M3 amphibious rig bridges and reconnaissance boats to position “explosive barrels” filled with fuel across the river.
The Third Theater of Operations said these floating obstacles are designed to be detonated remotely or via contact mines to destroy incoming enemy hovercraft and landing vessels.
The command emphasized that the deployment took into account the river’s tidal shifts and depth changes, ensuring the obstacles remained stable and effective despite the challenging hydrological conditions of the Tamsui estuary, the MNA reported.
Military experts have long identified the Tamsui River as a critical vulnerability. The estuary is only eight kilometers from Guandu Bridge and approximately 22 kilometers from the Presidential Office and other key government buildings.
The river mouth, along with nearby Bali Beach and the Port of Taipei, form a “defensive triangle” for the capital. While Bali is a site for traditional amphibious landings, the Port of Taipei is a high-priority target that could be used by Chinese forces for “administrative offloading” to bypass beach landings and quickly move heavy equipment inland.
Beijing could eventually see a full amphibious invasion of Taiwan as the only "prudent" way to bring about unification, the US Department of Defense said in a newly released annual report to Congress. The Pentagon's "Annual Report to Congress: Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China 2025," was in many ways similar to last year’s report but reorganized the analysis of the options China has to take over Taiwan. Generally, according to the report, Chinese leaders view the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) capabilities for a Taiwan campaign as improving, but they remain uncertain about its readiness to successfully seize
Taiwan is getting a day off on Christmas for the first time in 25 years. The change comes after opposition parties passed a law earlier this year to add or restore five public holidays, including Constitution Day, which falls on today, Dec. 25. The day marks the 1947 adoption of the constitution of the Republic of China, as the government in Taipei is formally known. Back then the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) governed China from Nanjing. When the KMT, now an opposition party in Taiwan, passed the legislation on holidays, it said that they would help “commemorate the history of national development.” That
Trips for more than 100,000 international and domestic air travelers could be disrupted as China launches a military exercise around Taiwan today, Taiwan’s Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said yesterday. The exercise could affect nearly 900 flights scheduled to enter the Taipei Flight Information Region (FIR) during the exercise window, it added. A notice issued by the Chinese Civil Aviation Administration showed there would be seven temporary zones around the Taiwan Strait which would be used for live-fire exercises, lasting from 8am to 6pm today. All aircraft are prohibited from entering during exercise, it says. Taipei FIR has 14 international air routes and
Snow fell on Yushan (Jade Mountain, 玉山) yesterday morning as a continental cold air mass sent temperatures below freezing on Taiwan’s tallest peak, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Snowflakes were seen on Yushan’s north peak from 6:28am to 6:38am, but they did not fully cover the ground and no accumulation was recorded, the CWA said. As of 7:42am, the lowest temperature recorded across Taiwan was minus-5.5°C at Yushan’s Fengkou observatory and minus-4.7°C at the Yushan observatory, CWA data showed. On Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County, a low of 1.3°C was recorded at 6:39pm, when ice pellets fell at Songsyue Lodge (松雪樓), a
RSS