Taiwan begins 5 days of war games simulating PLA attack

Dozens of fighter jets head to airbases in the east at start of annual exercise, while public response also put to the test with air raid sirens

President Tsai Ing-wen is expected to observe a maritime drill involving more than 20 warships from aboard a destroyer on Tuesday

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Military personnel guide residents to shelter in Taipei on Monday during an air raid drill coinciding with the Han Kuang exercise. Photo: AFP

Published: 7:00pm, 25 Jul 2022Updated: 7:03pm, 25 Jul 2022

Dozens of Taiwanese fighter jets scrambled in an emergency response drill at the start of the island’s annual war games on Monday, amid rising tensions across the Taiwan Strait.

The live-fire Han Kuang exercise runs for five days and coincides with the self-ruled island’s Wan An air raid drills.

It began in the morning with Indigenous Defence Fighters and US-made F-16Vs flying from the west and southwest of the island to airbases in eastern Taiwan. The drill was a simulation of a People’s Liberation Army attack involving missiles and warplanes aimed at Taiwan’s southwestern airbases. Fighter jets were told to take shelter at the eastern bases – including underground hangars at Chiashan – before taking on the PLA, according to Taiwan’s defence ministry.

A C-130 transport aircraft, pictured during last year’s Han Kuang exercise. Photo: CNA

A Lockheed C-130 Hercules turboprop military transport aircraft was also sent to the east of the island to supply spare parts and components for the warplanes there.

Mobile military radar vehicles were also put to the test along with the readiness of warships and troops at major seaports and the offshore islands of Penghu, or Pescadores, Quemoy, or Kinmen, and Matsu, the ministry said.

It said the first two days of the exercise would focus on preservation and air defence readiness in the event of an attack, followed by joint assault operations across the air force, navy and army on day three, and homeland defence in the last two days.

President Tsai Ing-wen is expected to observe a maritime drill involving more than 20 warships from aboard the Keelung, a Kidd-class destroyer, off Taiwan’s northeast on Tuesday.

It will be the first time she has watched the Han Kuang exercise from a naval vessel since she took office in 2016, though she did observe a smaller drill from a guided-missile destroyer in 2018.

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