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Taiwan ready for mega live-fire war games to fend off possible Chinese PLA attack
- Annual military exercise will follow the US’ largest war games in the region for 40 years, and the People’s Liberation Army’s five-day drill later this week
- Meanwhile in Washington, the US and Japan reiterated their pledge to protect peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait
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Taiwan will stage its largest war games in mid-September to test the combat readiness and defence strategies of its armed forces against a possible military attack by Beijing, which claims sovereignty over the self-ruled island.
Tuesday’s announcement from the Taiwanese military came as the Chinese People’s Liberation Army geared up for a mega five-day military drill in the South China Sea later in the week, even as the US stages its biggest war games for 40 years in the region.
Taiwan’s annual live-fire Han Kuang military exercise – involving all branches of the force – will be staged within the island and its offshore islets for five days from September 13, with simultaneous air, sea and land drills.
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“A test of emergency take-offs and landings of fighter jets on the Jiadong wartime runway – a major element of the exercise – will be conducted as planned,” said Major General Lin Wen-huang, director of the defence ministry’s operations and planning office.
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Taiwan says it will fight ‘to the very last day’ as Beijing sends fighter jets
Taiwan says it will fight ‘to the very last day’ as Beijing sends fighter jets
Warplanes will for the first time test emergency take-offs and landings on the Jiadong section of Provincial Highway No 1 in Pingtung, southern Taiwan – designated as a wartime runway for the air force. Taiwan has four other emergency landing strips on the Sun Yat-sen Freeway, all of which have been tested for similar emergency usability.
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