The computer-aided wargames and the combat training drills at this year’s Han Kuang military exercises would be extended to bolster the military’s ability to conduct joint combat operations, Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said on Monday.
The focus of the military exercises this year would be responses to “gray zone” activities — provocative or aggressive actions that fall just short of armed conflict — and improving defense resiliency, Koo said.
The emphasis is not surprising given recent allegations of commercial Chinese vessels cutting undersea communication cables in Taiwan’s vicinity and China’s air and naval exercises in waters near Taiwan and in the Tasman Sea without advance notice.
Photo: AFP / Ministry of National Defense
To make the Han Kuang drills more effective, the computer-aided wargames would be extended to 14 days from eight, while the combat exercises would run for 10 days, up from five, Koo said.
The combat exercises are to have five new elements: joint information and electronic warfare, rapid switching to wartime deployments, comprehensive air and missile defense, joint maritime defense and joint ground defense exercises, he said.
Precision missile strikes, live-fire tests and evaluations of the army, navy and air force, as well as simulated confrontations between the combined arms brigades would be retained from past years, he said.
Asked whether drones, including uncrewed surface vessels, would be part of this year’s exercises, Koo said that the military “will showcase [its aerial] drone capabilities,” but not its uncrewed ships, as it has not yet developed sufficient combat capabilities with them.
Lien Chih-wei (連志威), deputy chief of general staff for operations and planning, said that several goals of last year’s Han Kuang exercises, including testing newly acquired weapons systems, would be in the computer-aided and combat drills.
As drones were commissioned into the armed forces not long ago, an appropriate number would be tested based on the size of the nation’s fleet, Lien said.
Asked whether the M1A2T Abrams tanks and High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems that the military received from the US late last year would be tested, Koo said they are scheduled to be commissioned later this year and are “not likely to make it” for the Han Kuang drills.
Lee Ting-chung (李定中), who heads the All-Out Defense Mobilization Agency, said that a brigade of reservists would be mobilized during the exercises to help active-duty troops in a simulation of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army using a training drill near Taiwan as cover to launch a surprise attack.
The reservists would swiftly assemble and take part in a resources mobilization drill to practice carrying out requisition and acquisition orders from command centers and repurpose production lines to meet wartime needs, Lee said.
EVA Air is prohibiting the use of portable chargers on board all flights starting from Saturday, while China Airlines is advising passengers not to use them, following the lead of South Korean airlines. Current regulations prohibit portable chargers and lithium batteries from check-in luggage and require them to be properly packed in carry-on baggage, EVA Air said. To improve onboard safety, portable chargers and spare lithium batteries would be prohibited from use on all fights starting on Saturday, it said. Passengers are advised to fully charge electronic devices before boarding and use the AC and USB charging outlets at their seat, it said. South
Hong Kong-based American singer-songwriter Khalil Fong (方大同) has passed away at the age of 41, Fong’s record label confirmed yesterday. “With unwavering optimism in the face of a relentless illness for five years, Khalil Fong gently and gracefully bid farewell to this world on the morning of February 21, 2025, stepping into the next realm of existence to carry forward his purpose and dreams,” Fu Music wrote on the company’s official Facebook page. “The music and graphic novels he gifted to the world remain an eternal testament to his luminous spirit, a timeless treasure for generations to come,” it said. Although Fong’s
WAR SIMULATION: The developers of the board game ‘2045’ consulted experts and analysts, and made maps based on real-life Chinese People’s Liberation Army exercises To stop invading Chinese forces seizing Taiwan, board gamer Ruth Zhong chooses the nuclear option: Dropping an atomic bomb on Taipei to secure the nation’s freedom and her victory. The Taiwanese board game 2045 is a zero-sum contest of military strategy and individual self-interest that puts players on the front lines of a simulated Chinese attack. Their battlefield game tactics would determine the theoretical future of Taiwan, which in the real world faces the constant threat of a Chinese invasion. “The most interesting part of this game is that you have to make continuous decisions based on the evolving situation,
China’s military buildup in the southern portion of the first island chain poses a serious threat to Taiwan’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply, a defense analyst warned. Writing in a bulletin on the National Defense and Security Research’s Web site on Thursday, Huang Tsung-ting (黃宗鼎) said that China might choke off Taiwan’s energy supply without it. Beginning last year, China entrenched its position in the southern region of the first island chain, often with Russia’s active support, he said. In May of the same year, a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) force consisting of a Type 054A destroyer, Type 055 destroyer,
RSS