A joint Taiwan-US After Action Review team has declared the recently concluded five-day tabletop war game phase of Taiwan’s annual Han Kuang military exercises a success, a senior military official said yesterday.
The team that observed the computerized wargames held from May 15 to 19 has concluded that the defensive force in the simulations was able to achieve all pre-set training goals and is therefore capable of defending itself, Major General Lin Wen-huang (林文皇), who is in charge of planning at the Ministry of National Defense, told a briefing yesterday.
The five-day, around-the-clock war games were conducted using the US-built Joint Theater Level Simulation platform to simulate joint, combined and coalition civil-military operations at the operational level, Lin said.
Photo: Tien Yu-hua, Taipei Times
The simulations are meant to test the ability of military personnel to coordinate and launch a response to a Chinese invasion, Lin said.
A number of potential invasion scenarios were run during the war games based on the latest military threats posed by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, which recently sent warplanes and warships to surround Taiwan, he added.
What the armed forces learned from these simulations was more important than whether the invaders or defenders ultimately won the war games, he said.
Lin did not disclose who comprised the joint Taiwan-US review team.
A military source previously said that the team consisted of retired US generals and their active-duty Taiwanese counterparts.
The Americans came as observers to provide suggestions on the tabletop war games, which simulated the armed forces’ defensive response to various attack scenarios, the source said, without going into detail.
Similar US teams have made regular visits to Taiwan for the annual exercises in the past, the source said.
The Han Kuang exercises have been held annually since 1984, in the form of live-fire drills and computerized war games, to test Taiwan’s combat readiness in the face of a possible Chinese invasion.
This year marks the 39th edition of the annual exercises, which are Taiwan’s most important military drills and include all branches of the armed forces.
The live-fire exercise component of the exercises is scheduled for July 24 to 28.
INVESTIGATION: The case is the latest instance of a DPP figure being implicated in an espionage network accused of allegedly leaking information to Chinese intelligence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) member Ho Jen-chieh (何仁傑) was detained and held incommunicado yesterday on suspicion of spying for China during his tenure as assistant to then-minister of foreign affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮). The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said Ho was implicated during its investigation into alleged spying activities by former Presidential Office consultant Wu Shang-yu (吳尚雨). Prosecutors said there is reason to believe Ho breached the National Security Act (國家安全法) by leaking classified Ministry of Foreign Affairs information to Chinese intelligence. Following interrogation, prosecutors petitioned the Taipei District Court to detain Ho, citing concerns over potential collusion or tampering of evidence. The
NEGOTIATIONS: Taiwan has good relations with Washington and the outlook for the negotiations looks promising, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo said Taiwan’s GDP growth this year is expected to decrease by 0.43 to 1.61 percentage points due to the effects of US tariffs, National Development Council (NDC) Minister Paul Liu (劉鏡清) said at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee in Taipei yesterday, citing a preliminary estimate by a private research institution. Taiwan’s economy would be significantly affected by the 32 percent “reciprocal” tariffs slapped by the US, which took effect yesterday, Liu said, adding that GDP growth could fall below 3 percent and potentially even dip below 2 percent to 1.53 percent this year. The council has commissioned another institution
NEGOTIATIONS: The US response to the countermeasures and plans Taiwan presented has been positive, including boosting procurement and investment, the president said Taiwan is included in the first group for trade negotiations with the US, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, as he seeks to shield Taiwanese exporters from a 32 percent tariff. In Washington, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in an interview on Fox News on Thursday that he would speak to his Taiwanese and Israeli counterparts yesterday about tariffs after holding a long discussion with the Vietnamese earlier. US President Donald Trump on Wednesday postponed punishing levies on multiple trade partners, including Taiwan, for three months after trillions of US dollars were wiped off global markets. He has maintained a 10 percent
TRADE: The premier pledged safeguards on ‘Made in Taiwan’ labeling, anti-dumping measures and stricter export controls to strengthen its position in trade talks Products labeled “made in Taiwan” must be genuinely made in Taiwan, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday, vowing to enforce strict safeguards against “origin laundering” and initiate anti-dumping investigations to prevent China dumping its products in Taiwan. Cho made the remarks in a discussion session with representatives from industries in Kaohsiung. In response to the US government’s recent announcement of “reciprocal” tariffs on its trading partners, President William Lai (賴清德) and Cho last week began a series of consultations with industry leaders nationwide to gather feedback and address concerns. Taiwanese and US officials held a videoconference on Friday evening to discuss the
RSS