The military is to hold combat readiness drills involving the air force, navy and army this month in the wake of China stepping up military activities around Taiwan, a military source said on Tuesday.
After a six-year hiatus, the army is to conduct a one-week force-on-force training exercise in central Taiwan starting on Monday to strengthen live-fire training for combined armed brigades, the source said.
The drill, which would simulate confrontation scenarios in central areas of the country, is to be be carried out by the army’s 269th Mechanized Infantry Brigade in northern Taiwan and the Republic of China (ROC) Marine Corps’ 99th Brigade in the south, with the 10th Army Corps Command presiding over the exercise, the source added.
Photo: Yu Tai-lang, Taipei Times
The air force’s annual Tien Lung (“Sky Dragon”) drills are scheduled to start on Oct. 30 to test the air force’s air-to-air, air-to-sea and air-to-ground combat skills.
In addition, the navy’s annual drills started on Monday and would run until tomorrow, the source said.
The military drills are being staged amid rising cross-Taiwan Strait tensions and routine incursions by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army warplanes into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ).
The ADIZ is a self-defined area in which the country states it has the right to identify, locate and control approaching foreign aircraft, but is not part of territorial airspace as defined by international law.
China also frequently sailed military vessels near Taiwan, including many that crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait and entered the country’s southwestern ADIZ.
Meanwhile, The military yesterday held a landing exercise at Cisingtan (七星潭) in Hualien County, listing the beach as a potential landing site for an amphibious operation for the first time since 1989.
Cisingtan has been named as one of nearly 20 “red beaches,” or potential landing sites for the Chinese military, but it is considered a difficult landing site due to its terrain, requiring study to identify potential landing paths and defense strategies.
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