Overview
- The 10-day Han Kuang exercises began on Wednesday and are designed to test commanders’ ability to operate flexibly and to strengthen civilian and military resilience in a potential Chinese attack.
- Officials say the drills mobilised more than 20,000 personnel, including about 5,000 reservists, to rehearse 24-hour defence operations and rapid reserve call-ups.
- For the first time the military deliberately slowed mobile internet to simulate bandwidth loss and introduced U.S.-style backbriefing, where subordinates restate plans to improve on-the-ground decision making.
- On Thursday the Presidential Office staged a simulated late-night evacuation of President Lai to an underground command centre and troops practised sealing the Danjiang Bridge with concrete barriers, barbed wire and Hesco walls.
- The exercises reflect a move toward asymmetric, resilience-based defence as China’s pressure continues and Taipei faces tight domestic defence budgets and a pending U.S. arms package that remains unapproved.