A war games exercise to be conducted later this month will require the nation's most senior officials to swiftly gather at an emergency control room to deal with a simulated attack by China, media reports said yesterday.
Given the rising military threat from China, the simulation, called the Yushan war games -- which was started by the National Security Council last year -- will take place annually.
According to a report in the Chinese-language newspaper the China Times, President Chen Shui-bian (
"Chen will immediately conduct a 90-minute national security meeting, followed by a 60-minute military meeting. The president will then decide whether the country would declare war against China after the meetings," the report said.
The report said that the war games will simulate two scenarios: Taiwan coming under a large-scale missile attack from China and China launching a decapitation-style attack on Taipei.
The report said various political, military, diplomatic and economic issues would be dealt with in the war-games, including outlining how to ask for foreign help, ways to communicate with the nation's most important allies, the US and Japan, as well as methods to reassure the public and stabilize consumer prices, and rescue the injured.
Every procedure dealing with these issues will be scrutinized and practiced during the two-day simulation, the report said.
However, the report cast doubts on whether officials would be able to reach the command center within 10 minutes.
While Chen would be able to go to the center by helicopter from the Presidential Office or the president's residence, other officials, including Minister of National Defense Lee Jye (
Given Taipei's heavy traffic, the report said it would be difficult to meet the 10-minute deadline.
The annual Han Kuang (Han glory,
According to the Ministry of National Defense, this year's computer war games will be expanded to ground battles. They will simulate the Taiwanese military fighting an attack by China, including a military attack on the country and troops successfully crossing the Taiwan Strait and landing in Taipei.
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