Taiwan’s computer war games simulate invasion by People’s Liberation Army

Self-ruled island begins five days of computer-aided drills after expressing anger at increase in military manoeuvring by mainland Chinese forces

Exercise designed to test commanders’ ability to adopt the right strategy and coordinate different forces while under attack, defence ministry says

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The computer-aided drills are part of Taiwan’s Han Kuang exercises, the island’s largest annual war games, an earlier phase of which was held in July. Photo: Handout

Published: 4:00pm, 14 Sep 2020Updated: 9:51pm, 14 Sep 2020

Taiwan began five days of computer-aided war games on Monday, simulating an attack on the island by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

The drills are part of the Han Kuang exercises, Taiwan’s largest annual war games. An earlier phase of the exercises in July included live-fire drills.

The war games were designed to test Taiwanese commanders’ ability to adopt the right defence strategy and coordinate different forces while under attack, the defence ministry said.

Officials from the American Institute in Taiwan, the United States’ de facto embassy on the island, were invited to observe the drills, a military insider said.

“Previously, the US Indo-Pacific Command sent officers and military experts to observe the computer-aided drills and offer their advice after the simulations of various scenarios of a PLA attack,” said the source, who asked not to be named.

“But this year, because of the coronavirus pandemic, the US was unable to send them.”