Taiwan holds massive military exercises as tensions with China rise

China expresses its dissatisfaction with the possible visit of Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan 1:03

Port of Taipei, Taiwan (CNN) --

In simulated scenes, a hostile enemy attempts to seize control of a key waterway near Taiwan's capital.

Attacking from the sea and the air, the invading forces are targeting the mouth of the Tamsui River on the north coast of the island, a strategic estuary that provides direct access to downtown Taipei.

In response, the Taiwanese military deploys indigenous warplanes and defense tanks, while ground troops detonate explosives to stop the advance.

The scenes are part of the week-long Han Kuang exercises being held across Taiwan and its outlying islands through Friday.

The annual event has been held since 1984 and is attended by all branches of Taiwan's military—including its reserve forces—in an effort to increase overall defense capabilities.

This year, the drills took on greater importance amid growing concern about China's intentions toward Taiwan, an autonomous island that the ruling Communist Party in Beijing claims as its own.

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These concerns have been heightened by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Beijing has not ruled out the use of force to take control of Taiwan and has been putting increasing military pressure on the island by sending planes into its self-declared air defense identification zone.

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China has also reacted harshly to reports that US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is considering traveling to Taipei, warning that the Chinese military will "resolutely defend national sovereignty" if faced with "external forces" promoting Taiwan's independence.

"China demands that the US take concrete steps to fulfill its commitment not to support 'Taiwan independence' and not to host Pelosi's visit to Taiwan," Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Tan Kefei said on Tuesday. , in response to questions about Pelosi's alleged trip to Taipei.

If the US insists on going its own way, the Chinese military will never sit idly by, and will definitely take strong action to thwart any outside force's interference and the separatists' plans for "Taiwan independence", and will resolutely uphold national sovereignty and territorial integrity," Tan added.

A week-long military exercise

The Han Kuang exercises are the largest annual live-fire drills of their kind ever held on Taiwan, a democratically governed island of 24 million people.

This Tuesday, under the gaze of the president of Taiwan, Tsai Ing-wen, the island's military simulated an attack on the Su'ao naval base, an important military port in the northeast of the island, in which its forces They played the roles of aggressor and defender.

For two hours, Mirage 2000s and F-16s intercepted warplanes invading from the east;

helicopters played cat and mouse with submarines;

and guided-missile destroyers fired cannons, missiles, and torpedoes at an imaginary armada approaching the shore.

The drills demonstrate "the capability and determination of our military in defending our country," Tsai told troops afterward.

The Chinese military is likely to be one of the most interested in developing the exercises.

On Monday, a Chinese combat and reconnaissance drone flew through Japan's Miyako Strait before loitering in the airspace off Taiwan's eastern coast, according to the flight path released by the Japanese Defense Ministry.

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The drills are also designed to teach residents how to respond if Taiwan is attacked.

On Monday afternoon, traffic in Taipei came to a standstill and residents took shelter as air-raid sirens blared across the city.

Similar exercises will be held throughout Taiwan for the rest of the week.

The Taipei city government said the purpose of the air raid drills was to teach the public the location of bomb shelters "in case of war."

A growing threat from China

Both the United States and Taiwan have warned that the island is coming under increasing military pressure from Beijing.

This is partly reflected in the number of times China has sent its military aircraft into Taiwan's self-declared air defense identification zone, including 56 aircraft in a single day last October.

In response, Taiwan has had to send in fighter jets, issue radio warnings and deploy air defense missile systems to control activities.

Last year, Taiwan's Defense Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng said China might be able to mount a "full-scale" invasion in 2025, adding that military tensions across the straits are at their peak." most serious" in the more than 40 years he has been in the army.

Since then, Russia's invasion of Ukraine — and China's refusal to condemn Moscow's actions — have increased speculation about Beijing's intentions.

Last week, CIA Director Bill Burns said that China has been closely studying Russia's invasion of Ukraine to calculate "how and when" it might decide to invade Taiwan.

"I would not underestimate President Xi's determination to assert control of China," Burns said.

These assessments have put the spotlight on how Taiwan might best respond in the event of an invasion.

Chang Yan-ting, who was deputy commander of Taiwan's air force, told CNN that Taiwan needs to learn from Ukraine to combat a larger invading force and accelerate its development of asymmetric warfare capabilities.

A helicopter and a submarine take part in Taiwan's live-fire military exercises on July 26.

Instead of focusing on conventional weapons such as tanks, he said Taiwan should develop and purchase new long-range missiles that can hit China's military installations in the event of war.

"Taiwan differs from Ukraine in that we are an island and densely populated, so it would be difficult for residents to evacuate Taiwan if war breaks out," Chang said.

Hence, the Taiwanese military should focus its strategy on blocking the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) from landing in the first place, rather than retreating inland and risk fighting battles in densely populated cities.

"We must prioritize an asymmetric warfare strategy that prevents Taiwan from becoming a war zone," he said.

"We can do this by urgently enhancing our long-range strike capabilities so that we can hit enemy targets and eliminate their forces in (Chinese) Fujian province if they launch an attack, or try to cross the Taiwan Strait."

"In this way, we will be able to protect the lives of our ordinary citizens as much as possible, as well as the financial capital that our people have built with so much effort on our land during the last seven decades."

Additional reporting by Walid Berrazeg in Taipei

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