Taiwan to hold war games with computer-simulated Chinese invasion

Taiwan will run eight days of computer-aided war games this month, its defence ministry said days after China said an aircraft carrier was conducting drills near the island and that such exercises would become routine.

Computer simulations of a Chinese attack on Taiwan will be conducted from April 23 to 30 and will form the first phase of Taiwan’s largest annual war games, the Han Kuang exercises, the ministry said on Wednesday.

A second phase, which will include live-fire drills, is set to take place in July.

Chinese-claimed Taiwan has come under increasing military pressure from Beijing in recent months, with China’s air force making almost daily forays in Taiwan’s air defence identification zone.

“The drills are designed based on the toughest enemy threats, simulating all possible scenarios on an enemy invasion on Taiwan,” Major General Liu Yu-Ping told reporters.

He said the drills will use the Joint Theatre Level Simulation system and will run 24 hours a day.

China’s navy said on Monday a Chinese carrier group was conducting exercises near Taiwan and such drills would become regular, marking a further escalation of tensions.

The following day, the US Navy said its Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group entered the South China Sea on April 4 to conduct routine operations, its second such visit this year.

The second phase of Taiwan’s war games would involve mobilising some 8,000 reservists to join live-fire, anti-landing drills, and hospitals holding drills to deal with an influx of heavy casualties.

When asked if Washington’s de facto embassy, the American Institute in Taiwan, would send representatives to oversee the drills, Liu said such a plan was “discussed” but “will not be implemented”, citing military sensitivity.

Washington has no formal ties with Taipei but is its largest arms supplier. President Joe Biden’s administration has moved to reassure democratic Taiwan that its commitment to them is “rock solid”.