Taiwan to hold island-wide air raid drills simulating PLA attacks

Annual event will run from July 25 to 28 and will test sirens and include emergency rescue and evacuation exercises
It comes after a PLA missile frigate reportedly sailed close to Hualien on Sunday, the latest move in Beijing’s pressure campaign

Taiwan

Lawrence Chungin Taipei

Published: 8:00pm, 12 Jul 2022

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Taiwan will stage island-wide drills simulating missile and warplane attacks by the People’s Liberation Army, as tensions soar across the strait.

The annual Wan An exercise comes after a PLA missile frigate reportedly sailed close to Taiwan’s eastern coast on Sunday.

It was the latest move in a pressure campaign against the self-ruled island that includes PLA warplanes regularly entering Taiwan’s air defence identification zone. Beijing sees the island as part of its territory and has not ruled out the use of force to take control of it.

The air raid drills will be held from July 25 to 28 and will coincide with the annual Han Kuang military exercises that also simulate attacks from mainland China, according to Taiwan’s defence ministry.

“They will be held in seven areas, including the northern, central, southern and eastern parts of Taiwan proper and Pescadores [Penghu], Quemoy and Matsu of the offshore islands,” said Chu Sen-tsuen, personnel director at the ministry’s All-Out Defence Mobilisation Agency.

Taiwan’s offshore islands – especially Quemoy, also known as Kinmen, and Matsu which are close to the mainland Chinese coast – are expected to be key targets in the event of a PLA attack.

Chu said the drills would test air raid sirens and emergency rescue and evacuation exercises would also be carried out.

Text messages would be sent to the public alerting them about the drill, and people would be assisted by military and police personnel to get to the nearest shelter, he said.

“The drills aim to test the public’s responses … strengthen the readiness of all-out civil defence, reduce the damage of air attacks and safeguard life and property,” Chu said.

Anyone who does not comply with the drills could be fined up to NT$150,000 (US$5,000), he added.

The Wan An drills have been held since 1978 but have become more important in recent years as the island of 23 million people faces growing threats from Beijing.

On Sunday, navy and coastguard vessels shadowed a PLA missile frigate as it sailed through waters 35 nautical miles off Hualien in Taiwan’s east, the semi-official Central News Agency reported on Tuesday, citing an unnamed military source.

The next day, a US destroyer sailed 45 nautical miles off the southeastern coast of Taiwan’s Orchid Island, the report said.

Beijing has been angered by US warships passing through the Taiwan Strait – which it claims to have sovereignty over but Washington sees as international waters – and has expanded its military activities in the region. It has also been riled by the US moving closer to Taiwan, though it recognises Beijing diplomatically and does not have official ties with Taipei.

Several PLA fighter jets crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait on Friday in what was seen as provocation by Beijing over a visit to Taipei by US Senator Rick Scott, a senior Republican who chairs the National Republican Senatorial Committee and sits on the Senate’s Armed Services Committee.

Taiwan’s defence ministry was quoted by Reuters as saying that the PLA warplanes “intentionally crossed the median line of the strait in a provocative move, which has seriously damaged regional peace and stability”.

In the past six months, the PLA has been sending more combat aircraft such as fighter jets and bombers on sorties into the southwest of Taiwan’s air defence zone, and further south over the Bashi Channel, ministry figures show – moves seen as part of preparations for a possible conflict. More than 2,000 PLA sorties have been made into Taiwan’s air defence zone since 2020, according to the ministry.