Taiwan's biggest-ever war games aim for combat realism: ‘prepare for the unexpected'
grey-zone tactics as the opening move in a round-the-clock war game designed to reflect a realistic and protracted cross-strait conflict scenario.
The 41st edition of the
Han Kuang Exercise marks a significant departure from previous years, both in scale and duration. Doubled in length to 10 days, this year's drills are being conducted without scripts or fixed timelines to mimic battlefield unpredictability, according to Taiwan's defence ministry.
Ministry officials said the change reflected an increasingly volatile threat environment, especially amid stepped-up pressure from mainland China's
People's Liberation Army (PLA).
In response to 'separatist' moves by Taiwanese leader William Lai Ching-te, the PLA has amplified military pressure on the self-governed island over the past year, including ramping up joint combat patrols, naval and amphibious assault training across the Taiwan Strait, and near-daily fly-bys into Taiwan's
air defence identification zone (ADIZ).
Reservists receive training during the Han Kuang military exercises in Taoyuan, Taiwan, on Wednesday. This year's drills will feature full-scale urban combat. Photo: Reuters
'This is the most intensive Han Kuang ever conducted,' Major General Tung Chi-hsing, head of the defence ministry's joint operation planning division, said last week. He said the training was focused not just on a single attack, but on 'a drawn-out war that played out in stages – on beaches, in cities and across society'.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
South China Morning Post
2 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
US names 5 more Chinese industries for enforcement under Uygur labour law
The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced on Tuesday it is designating five new Chinese industry sectors, including copper, lithium and steel, for 'high priority' enforcement under a human rights law restricting imports from China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. Advertisement Tuesday's updated list also names caustic soda – a chemical used in textiles and detergents – and red dates, bringing the total number of high-priority sectors targeted under the law to 12. The Uygur Forced Labour Prevention Act, which went into effect in 2022 , creates a 'rebuttable presumption' that all goods partially or wholly produced in Xinjiang are tainted by forced labour and therefore barred from being imported. It was expected to have far-reaching effects on global supply chains given Xinjiang's status as a manufacturing hub for goods ranging from agricultural staples such as cotton and tomatoes to sought-after materials like viscose and polysilicon 'America has a moral, economic and national security duty to eradicate threats that endanger our nation's prosperity, including unfair trade practices that disadvantage the American people and stifle our economic growth,' Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement. Advertisement 'The use of slave labour is repulsive and we will hold Chinese companies accountable for abuses and eliminate threats its forced labour practices pose to our prosperity,' she added.
South China Morning Post
11 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
Is India's easing of rupee trade rules a response to US tariff threats?
India 's central bank has eased rules for settling international trade in rupees, a move analysts say could bolster the currency's global profile and reduce the country's dependence on the US dollar as trade tensions with Washington escalate. Advertisement Though New Delhi has distanced itself from global de-dollarisation drives, observer say the shift reflects a pragmatic push to insulate India from dollar volatility and future geopolitical risks. Earlier this month, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said the country's banks would no longer need prior approval from the central bank before allowing the opening of special Rupee Vostro Accounts, easing the process for cross-border payments in the local currency. The move came amid the backdrop of Washington imposing import tariffs of 50 per cent on India, even as nations like Brazil called for a Brics trade currency as a dollar alternative. US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose higher tariffs on Brics – an association of 10 major emerging economies including India – if the bloc tries to weaken the dollar's global reserve currency status. 02:12 Trump to impose 25% tariff on India from August 1, plus 'penalty' for Russia ties Trump to impose 25% tariff on India from August 1, plus 'penalty' for Russia ties India has previously said it neither supports moves for a single Brics currency, nor any efforts aimed at undermining the use of the US dollar.
South China Morning Post
11 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
How Beijing and other South China Sea claimants can see eye to eye
Few disputes in Asia are as enduring – and as polarising – as those over the South China Sea . For more than a decade, two sharply opposed narratives have dominated. In one, Beijing is seen as using force, or the threat of force, to change the status quo, undermining peace and stability. In the other, China is portrayed as exercising restraint, acting within its rights and working to safeguard regional stability. These perspectives are not merely different; they are mutually exclusive. One side's defensive action is interpreted as aggressive by the other, reinforcing mistrust and escalation. Measures to enhance one party's security inevitably diminish the sense of security for others. This makes de-escalation difficult and drives the dispute beyond legal or territorial boundaries into the realm of identity, national pride and historical grievance. Without narrowing this gulf, a peaceful resolution remains remote. At its core, the divergence stems from conflicting national interests. Yet the roots run deeper, in the incomplete territorial arrangements left after the second world war. The rapid onset of the Cold War froze parts of the post-war settlement in ambiguity. Treaties such as the 1951 San Francisco Peace Treaty and 1952 Sino-Japanese Peace Treaty required Japan to renounce the Spratly and Paracel Islands but did not specify their new sovereign owner. Beijing maintains these territories are historically Chinese, before Japan's wartime seizure. Other claimants read the record differently. Some argue Japan's renunciation did not automatically transfer sovereignty to China, rendering the islands terra nullius – open to lawful occupation.
