Taiwan takes things seriously: military exercises with maximum realism
This year's annual Taiwan War Games will be as close to real combat as possible , no longer just a point-scoring spectacle, but aiming to simulate real combat in the face of a rapidly rising "enemy threat" from part of China, a senior official on the island told Reuters.
China, which considers democratically governed Taiwan as its territory, has been holding regular exercises around the island for four years to pressure Taipei into accepting Beijing's sovereignty claim, despite Taiwan's strong objections.
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Taiwan begins its five-day Han Kuang exercises on July 22.
A senior Taiwanese defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to speak more freely, said there was an urgent need to rethink how the exercises are conducted.
Live fire exercises in Taiwan
“In recent years, the enemy threat has changed rapidly,” the official said. “Our defense combat plan must be continually reviewed and the urgency of comprehensive combat training is becoming increasingly important.”
Elements that were mostly cosmetic have been cancelled, while this year there will be night exercises and, unusually, the capital Taipei will also be included, the official said. All to make the exercises as close to the real combat situation as possible.
“It's not about scoring points,” the official said. “We want soldiers to ask themselves if this is real.”
The situations will be kept to the maximum level of realism and the soldiers will also have to face possible inconveniences, such as, for example, damage to vehicles and weapons. “These are problems that can be faced in real combat” and therefore will also have to be addressed in the exercise.
The drills will be an ongoing experience, the official said. “War does not distinguish between night and day.”
China's Defense Ministry did not respond to calls seeking comment on the exercises outside office hours over the weekend. He has previously said that it is useless for Taiwan to think it can use weapons to prevent 'reunification'.
Announcing the exercises in April, Taiwan's Defense Ministry said the war games would practice "slaughter" zones at sea to break a blockade and simulate a scenario in which China suddenly turns one of its regular exercises around the isolates in an attack.
“Only with real-time, on-the-ground verification can we truly understand the capabilities and limitations of our troops,” the official said.
Live fire exercises in Taiwan
China held two days of war games around the island shortly after President Lai Ching-te took office last month, saying it was 'punishment' for his inauguration speech, which Beijing had denounced as full of separatist content.
China has also used the gray area of advanced military exercises against the island, using erratic tactics to exhaust an enemy by keeping them continuously on alert without resorting to open combat. This includes sending balloons over the island and almost daily air force missions in the skies near Taiwan.
China has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control. Taiwanese President Lai, who maintains that only the Taiwanese people can decide their future, has repeatedly offered talks but has been rebuffed.
The official declined to comment on which parts of the war games Lai would participate, as is customary for the President as commander in chief, or whether there would be U.S. observers.
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The article Taiwan takes things seriously: military exercises with maximum realism comes from Economic Scenarios .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/taiwan-fa-le-cose-sul-serio-esercitazioni-militari-a-realismo-massimo/ on Sun, 23 Jun 2024 12:32:01 +0000.