Taiwan is currently in the midst of the 40th edition of its annual Han Kuang war games, aimed at assessing its readiness to withstand a full-scale invasion by China's People's Liberation Army (PLA).
But amid rising tensions in the strait, Taiwanese defense officials have said this year's five-day military exercise, which began Monday and runs through Friday, will be the largest ever conducted and a major departure from previous iterations.
Beijing, which considers Taiwan a breakaway province of China, has responded to the January election victory of pro-independence President William Lai Ching-te by stepping up provocative military exercises around the island.
Under mounting pressure, Taiwan has said this year's games will try to be as close to real-life combat as possible, abandoning what critics have labeled some of the more theatrical elements of the exercise.
With Typhoon Gaemi also hitting the island, limiting parts of the war games, the 40th edition of Han Kuang will be unlike any other.
Here's everything you need to know:
What is the Han Kuang exercise?
The Han Kuang exercise has been held every year since 1984 and has historically consisted of live-fire exercises and computerized war games over the course of five days. It is seen as a show of resolve against Chinese intimidation and aims to demonstrate the Taiwanese military's ability to repel invading forces.
This week, in conjunction with Han Kuang, the Wanan air raid drill is being held, an annual test of civilian preparedness that has been carried out in different regions of the country since 1978. During the drill, air raid sirens sound in every city and simulated SMS alerts are sent to phones across the country warning of an imminent rocket attack and instructing citizens to seek shelter.
Taipei's usually bustling streets emptied of vehicles and pedestrians during Tuesday's 30-minute drill, as guards ushered people into subway stations and bomb shelters.
Pedestrians and motorists who fail to follow instructions could face fines of up to 150,000 New Taiwan dollars (about $4,600).
The annual Wanan air defence drill, a four-day national exercise aimed at raising public awareness of emergency response measures, was held in Taipei on Tuesday afternoon. CNA recorded silence in the bustling city as the movement of people and vehicles was restricted. photo.twitter.com/4aOsYoK24B
— Focus Taiwan (CNA News) (@Focus_Taiwan) July 23, 2024
How will this year be different?
In a rare appearance last month at Taiwan's parliament, the Legislative Yuan, Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces Admiral Mei Chia-shu told lawmakers that this year's Han Kuang exercises will be very different from those in previous years.
Marking the first time Taiwan's military chief of staff addressed lawmakers in 25 years, Mei told the legislature's National and Foreign Defense Committee on June 26 that this year's games would be unscripted and would not include live-fire drills in Taiwan, though they would still be held on outlying islands.
Drills in which soldiers play the role of invading enemy soldiers have also been scrapped. In previous years, marines and special forces had conducted landing and parachute exercises to simulate a Chinese invasion, but now these exercises will be conducted separately so that these units can train for their role in defending the country.
These Han Kuang elements have previously been criticized for being largely a showpiece, and this year's focus is an attempt to offer greater combat realism among small, dispersed units and scenarios simulating command lines being cut off, Mei said.
This emphasis on decentralized command indicates that Taiwan’s military leadership is finally embracing asymmetric warfare, a former senior Taiwanese general said. Asymmetric warfare is a tactic the United States has advocated Taiwan adopt for years, rather than trying to match China’s military might.
“This is the first time they are taking their job seriously,” Kitsch Liao, deputy director of the Atlantic Council’s Global China Hub and an expert on the Taiwanese military, told the Financial Times. “They feel the situation is already quite tense and they are not just doing what Han Kuang used to do in the past.”
What has motivated this change?
According to Taiwan's Defense Ministry, the rules of engagement for this year's games were revised following repeated incursions into the country's air defense identification zone, a land and sea buffer area that Taiwan monitors for threats from Chinese warplanes and drones.
Taiwan has complained of a sharp increase in Chinese military activity in recent years as Beijing seeks to intimidate the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which advocates strengthening Taiwanese identity and views Taiwan as an independent and sovereign nation.
The DPP’s third consecutive victory in January’s national election, which China described as “a choice between war and peace,” was greeted with disdain in Beijing. The Chinese Communist Party, which has cut off official communications since the DPP’s election victory in 2016, has described party leader Lai as a “troublemaker” and a “dangerous separatist.”
Just three days after Lai took office in May, China launched war games simulating an encirclement of Taiwan.
Beijing claimed this was done as a “strong punishment” for its inaugural address, which it described as a “confession of Taiwan independence.” For the first time, the exercises simulated a large-scale attack rather than an economic blockade scenario, military experts noted.
China's military provocation has continued since then, and on July 11, Taiwan's Defense Ministry said it had detected the largest number of PLA warplanes near the island in a 24-hour period so far this year.
How has Typhoon Gaemi affected Han Kuang?
Gaemi made landfall in northeastern Taiwan on Wednesday night, bringing heavy rain and winds of up to 240 kilometers per hour (150 miles per hour), according to Taiwan's Central Meteorological Agency.
Gaemi, which has been labelled a “strong typhoon”, is the strongest storm to hit Taiwan in eight years. Offices and schools have been closed in most major cities, while most flights and trains have also been cancelled.
Defense Ministry spokesman Sun Li-fang told reporters that “some of the air and naval elements” of Han Kuang will be re-adjusted “given the typhoon situation,” but most of the exercises will go ahead. Some 29,000 troops have also been put on alert to help in case of disaster.
事發地花蓮 靠北 … 希望後座沒人 … image.twitter.com/wIBbyfaE4n
— 雨可韓韓 𝐘𝐮𝐜𝐨𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐡𝐚𝐧🇹🇼 (@Yucohanhan_ROC) July 24, 2024
The incident happened in northern Hualien… I hope there is no one in the back seat…
