The computer-aided war-games portion of the annual Han Kuang military exercises will be held next month and the drill will focus on a simulation of a battle group of the Liaoning, China’s first aircraft carrier, attacking Taiwan’s east coast, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday.
Major General Mei Chia-shu (梅家樹), vice director of the ministry’s Operations and Planning Division, told a press conference that the computer-aided war games are to take place from May 19 to 23 to examine the military’s joint homeland defense capability.
The war games will simulate a Chinese force launching full-scale warfare against the nation, with its Liaoning aircraft carrier battle group moving to waters east of Taiwan and attacking the nation from the sea, the ministry said.
The nation’s new weapon systems, including AH-64 Apache helicopters, Thunderbolt-2000 multiple launch rocket systems and P-3C anti-submarine warfare patrol aircraft, will join the computer-aided drill, the ministry added.
Mei said the goal of the computer-aided war games is to practice difficult joint arms warfare scenarios and strengthen the military’s joint warfare capability.
The scenarios and result of the war games are to serve as a reference for live-fire exercises scheduled to take place in September.
Meanwhile, Pai Chieh-lung (白捷隆), a human resources official at the ministry, said the ministry’s recruitment plan this year has gone well and the recruitment target has been met.
He said the ministry planned to recruit 5,920 personnel, but as of Sunday 8,634 people have already signed up to become volunteer soldiers.
The government has been offering incentives for young people to pursue a military career. On Jan. 1, the government raised monthly allowances for volunteer soldiers and non-commissioned officers by between NT$2,000 and NT$4,000.
Taiwan plans to shift to an all-volunteer force by 2017. It originally planned for the transition to be completed by next year, but pushed the date back due to lower-than-expected recruitment numbers.
SCENARIOS: A potential conflict with Beijing would not be similar to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and China would target energy and food supplies, a researcher said China is likely to continue using economic and cyberoperations against Taiwan to force it to capitulate without resorting to a military attack, Fox News reported yesterday, citing the outcome of a tabletop exercise. Washington-based think tank the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) earlier this month held a tabletop exercise in Taipei focusing on Beijing’s use of economic and cybercoercion against Taiwan. The FDD mentioned an “anaconda strategy,” in which Beijing would likely use cyberwarfare and disinformation campaigns followed by a blockade or other measures to strangulate Taiwan, rather than attempting an invasion, the report said. A large-scale cyberattack would be
HSINCHU CASES: Five people among 35 who were reported being sick were still in hospital after eating at a vendor in a market in Jhubei, the local health agency said Thirty-five people have sought medical treatment for acute symptoms after allegedly eating banh mi (Vietnamese sandwiches) from a vendor in Jhubei City (竹北), the Hsinchu County Public Health Bureau said yesterday. The bureau said that since Saturday, it has received several reports of suspected food poisoning from hospitals. The vendor has been ordered to temporarily suspend its business, it said, adding that tests were being conducted to determine whether the people had food poisoning, with results expected in about two weeks. A preliminary investigation showed that the people who sought treatment had recently eaten banh mi at a vendor at a retail market
GOOD MODEL: Speaking at his book launch, Law said that Taiwan is the most democratic Chinese-speaking country, which is why Hong Kongers relocated here China has suffocated Hong Kong’s civil society and its next target could be Taiwan, Nathan Law (羅冠聰), cofounder of the disbanded pro-democracy Hong Kong political party Demosisto, said in Taipei yesterday. Law made the remarks at a launch in Taipei for his book When the Wind Blows — the Struggles for Freedom of Hong Kong (時代推著我們前行:羅冠聰的香港備忘錄). Law has been living in the UK since he fled Hong Kong in 2020, and the book is about his fighting for the cause of freedom in the area. He was granted political asylum in 2021. “Fleeing is a long and distressing process, but it also
IMITATING OTHERS? Tsai Ing-wen’s office said the former president rents a commercial unit for her personal office and had never used election funds to purchase real estate Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday confirmed that he used about NT$43 million (US$1.35 million) from his presidential election subsidy to purchase an office unit near the Legislative Yuan in May. Ko made the remarks after Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) earlier in the day told a news conference that she received a tip-off that the TPP chairman had purchased a 48.76 ping (161.2m2) office unit at Jinan Building (濟南大樓), a commercial building in Taipei’s Zhongzheng District (中正). Lin said that Ko purchased the unit on May 10, paying about NT$43 million in cash,