The Taiwanese army is intensifying its combat preparations with a five-day exercise mobilizing all its forces. Objective: to test joint coordination in the face of China’s repeated incursions around the island.
The Taiwanese army is organizing a five-day combat preparation exercise from Monday June 22, the Ministry of Defense announced this Sunday.
This exercise is part of its modernization plans aimed at reorienting its training towards more realistic exercises, simulating war situations.
Ten days ago, maritime authorities on the island, over which China claims sovereignty, said they would not tolerate attempts by Beijing to give the impression that it exercises jurisdiction over Taiwan’s waters.
According to the Taiwan authorities, Chinese armed forces regularly operate in the air and at sea around the island in order to put pressure on it to accept Chinese sovereignty.
The Taiwanese military began basing some of its exercises on a scenario in which China would turn one of its regular exercises around the island into a full-blown attack.
The “immediate combat preparation exercise” will begin Monday and “will continue until Friday,” the Ministry of Defense said in a press release.
“The main objective is to train “units at all “levels so that “they become familiar with combat practices and the battlefield environment during the “alert deployment phase,†he said.
Test the reaction of each defense zone
The island regularly organizes military exercises and Taiwan’s main annual military exercises, the “Han Kuang” are expected to take place in August.
Taiwan’s announcement came on the same day that Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said China had sent a significant new number of military aircraft into the airspace near Taiwan.
However, the media had already, for several days, announced the start of this exercise on Monday.
Selon Taiwan Newswho cited on June 17 the Central News Agency (CNA), Taiwan’s main news agency, the exercises will test the reaction of each defense zone as well as the coordination between the Army, Navy and Air Force.
According to the same source, the Taiwanese army recently adjusted its joint operations plan. The new plan emphasizes combat readiness, strengthening alert levels, joint anti-landing operations, coastal strikes, beach defense and long-term defense.
