Taiwan launches annual war games as tensions simmer with China

• Taiwan has launched its annual Han Kuang military exercises aimed at simulating real-life combat.
• China has been conducting regular military drills around Taiwan for four years in an attempt to force Taipei to accept its territorial claims over the island.
• The five-day military drills will run alongside the Wan’an civil defence exercise, which simulates a Chinese missile attack, with streets in major cities evacuated for 30 minutes and test alerts sounded on mobile phones.

Taiwan sent naval vessels out to sea to conduct takeoff and landing training at the start of its annual Han Kuang military exercises on Monday, July 22. This year’s Han Kuang exercises are unscripted and aim to mimic how to repel a Chinese attack, simulating as close as possible to real combat.

China, which considers democratically ruled Taiwan its own territory, has been conducting regular drills around the island for four years to pressure it to accept China’s sovereignty claims, despite strong opposition from Taiwan.

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Taiwan’s drills this year have dropped largely pretentious elements such as scripted firepower displays but will include more nighttime exercises and training in operations with chains of command cut off. The five-day military drills are being held in conjunction with the Wan’an civil defence exercise, which involves a mock Chinese missile attack, evacuating streets in major cities for 30 minutes and sounding test warning alarms on mobile phones.

China has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control. Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te has said the future of Taiwan should be decided only by the Taiwanese people and has made repeated requests for talks but has been rebuffed.