The armed forces are to hold field exercises on Monday and Tuesday in coastal regions dubbed “red beaches” to train defending Taiwan proper against a multipronged amphibious attack, a defense official familiar with the matter said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Live-fire drills are to be conducted on beaches and near shores in New Taipei City’s Tamsui District (淡水), at the Port of Taipei and in Taoyuan’s Guanyin District (觀音), a notice posted on the bulletin of the Fisheries Administration said.
The official said the exercises would test the army’s ability to react quickly and utilize mobile reserves to defend simultaneous attacks by the Chinese military on multiple fronts.
Photo: CNA
In the war game, the Sixth Army Corps would play the defending force and the 151st Fleet would be the aggressor, the official added.
If Beijing were to invade Taiwan, the Chinese military would attack in multiple coastal areas, as few beaches in Taiwan proper are suitable landing sites for amphibious operations, they said.
The field exercises are scheduled to begin the same day as the computer-assisted simulation component of the annual Han Kuang drills, which would conclude on Friday next week, the official said,
Findings from past tabletop exercises and trends seen in the Russia-Ukraine war would be incorporated into the computer-assisted portion of the drills, which would be based on the Joint Theater Level Simulation technology platform, the official said.
The possible landing sites for the Chinese military are dubbed “red beaches” among military analysts, they said.
In 2017, Ian Easton, now senior director at the US-based Project 2049 Institute, identified 14 vulnerable beaches that could be used as landing sites, the official said.
The Taiwanese armed forces recognize that such vulnerabilities exist, but do not agree with Easton’s assessment of their locations and number, they said.
Separately, the Ministry of National Defense last week told lawmakers that the army plans to buy 2,060 light machine guns for combat units for NT$428.9 million (US$13.94 million) over five years.
The weapons would be allocated to enhance frontline units’ firepower and their capability to conduct counterattacks against Chinese amphibious and airborne, air assault, infiltration and sabotage operations, it said.
A public version of the ministry’s proposed budget revealed a flurry of plans to buy arms and equipment amid a planned expansion of the army and marine corps following the implementation of one-year military conscription and the expansion of the reserves.
The budget proposals include NT$521 million for grenade launchers, automatic grenade launchers and pistols; NT$108 million for 107 81mm mortars; NT$232.2 million for chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear protective equipment; NT$1.759 billion for 10,000 night vision devices; and NT$22.8 million for 2,000 binoculars.
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE: Without its Taiwanese partners which are ‘working around the clock,’ Nvidia could not meet AI demand, CEO Jensen Huang said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and US-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp have partnered with each other on silicon photonics development, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said. Speaking with reporters after he met with TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) in Taipei on Friday, Huang said his company was working with the world’s largest contract chipmaker on silicon photonics, but admitted it was unlikely for the cooperation to yield results any time soon, and both sides would need several years to achieve concrete outcomes. To have a stake in the silicon photonics supply chain, TSMC and
‘DETERRENT’: US national security adviser-designate Mike Waltz said that he wants to speed up deliveries of weapons purchased by Taiwan to deter threats from China US president-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for US secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, affirmed his commitment to peace in the Taiwan Strait during his confirmation hearing in Washington on Tuesday. Hegseth called China “the most comprehensive and serious challenge to US national security” and said that he would aim to limit Beijing’s expansion in the Indo-Pacific region, Voice of America reported. He would also adhere to long-standing policies to prevent miscalculations, Hegseth added. The US Senate Armed Services Committee hearing was the first for a nominee of Trump’s incoming Cabinet, and questions mostly focused on whether he was fit for the
IDENTITY: Compared with other platforms, TikTok’s algorithm pushes a ‘disproportionately high ratio’ of pro-China content, a study has found Young Taiwanese are increasingly consuming Chinese content on TikTok, which is changing their views on identity and making them less resistant toward China, researchers and politicians were cited as saying by foreign media. Asked to suggest the best survival strategy for a small country facing a powerful neighbor, students at National Chia-Yi Girls’ Senior High School said “Taiwan must do everything to avoid provoking China into attacking it,” the Financial Times wrote on Friday. Young Taiwanese between the ages of 20 and 24 in the past were the group who most strongly espoused a Taiwanese identity, but that is no longer
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake and several aftershocks battered southern Taiwan early this morning, causing houses and roads to collapse and leaving dozens injured and 50 people isolated in their village. A total of 26 people were reported injured and sent to hospitals due to the earthquake as of late this morning, according to the latest Ministry of Health and Welfare figures. In Sising Village (西興) of Chiayi County's Dapu Township (大埔), the location of the quake's epicenter, severe damage was seen and roads entering the village were blocked, isolating about 50 villagers. Another eight people who were originally trapped inside buildings in Tainan
RSS