Taiwan starts annual war games, aiming to closely mimic actual combat

TAOYUAN, Taiwan — Taiwan started its annual Han Kuang war games on Monday (July 22), which this year aim to be as close as possible to actual combat with no script and simulating how to repel a Chinese attack.

China, which views democratically governed Taiwan as its territory, has been staging regular exercises around the island for four years to pressure Taipei to accept Beijing's claim of sovereignty, despite Taiwan's strong objections.

Taiwan's drills this year has cancelled elements that were mostly for show, like scripted firepower displays, while there will be intensified nighttime exercises and practising how to operate with severed command lines.

Kicking off the exercises in the northern city of Taoyuan, outside of Taipei and home to Taiwan's main international airport, reservists gathered to get their orders as they would during a war, and civilian vans were pressed into service to carry supplies.

Later in the day the military will practise defending a major Taipei port.

On Thursday, Taoyuan airport will close for an hour in the morning for the drills, though a typhoon is expected to be impacting the island that day meaning that the exercise could be delayed.

Live fire drills will only take place on Taiwan's outlying islands, including Kinmen and Matsu which sit nestled next to the Chinese coast and were the scene of on-off clashes during the height of the Cold War.

The five-day war games will be happening in conjunction with the Wan'an civil defence drills, where the streets of major cities are evacuated for half an hour during a simulated Chinese missile attack, and test warning alarms will sound on mobile phones.

The drill scenarios this week include setting up contingency command lines after existing hubs