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Taiwan's army simulates skirmishes with Chinese troops during a military exercise

2022-01-06T11:37:38.182Z


Taiwan's soldiers train in the event of a Chinese invasion. During a training maneuver, the troops re-enacted a house-to-house fight. Tensions between Taipei and Beijing have recently increased.


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Simulated house-to-house warfare: Taiwan sees China as a growing threat

Photo: ANN WANG / REUTERS

The conflict between Taiwan and China has been smoldering for years, and lately there have been new tensions.

Taipei is increasingly feeling threatened by Beijing.

Taiwanese soldiers have now trained for emergencies.

During a military exercise, they simulated urban combat with Chinese troops.

Amid mounting tensions with Beijing, the exercise served in preparation for a possible invasion by the Chinese army.

During the maneuver in a simulated city, soldiers shot each other out of houses and holed up behind barricades made of sandbags.

Tanks were also in use.

"Any future battle to protect Taiwan will be an urban war," Army instructor Kiwi Yang told journalists.

Much of Taiwan's 23 million people live in cities.

China's plan for a possible invasion is to fight its way into densely populated urban areas after landing on the coasts and finally to advance into mountainous villages, he added.

China has increased military and diplomatic pressure on Taiwan since Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen took office in 2016.

The incidents in which Chinese fighter jets penetrated the Taiwanese air defense area have recently increased.

Beijing sees Taiwan as a breakaway province that is to be reunited with the mainland - if necessary with military force.

Beijing is also trying to isolate Taiwan internationally.

The People's Republic rejects any form of formal relations between other countries and the island republic.

Taiwan split from China in 1949 after the communists' triumph in the civil war.

The Chinese army has already completed several exercises simulating an invasion of Taiwan.

The last such maneuver took place in December with hundreds of soldiers and dozens of tanks.

asc / AFP

Source: spiegel

All news articles on 2022-01-06

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