The military drill was the first time press was invited to witness a nighttime exercise, with The Hill’s Brad Dress reporting along from the Penghu Islands.
The drill shows how Taiwan is preparing for all scenarios should China invade or launch an attack on the self-governing island nation.
With 2027 fast approaching — the date Chinese leader Xi Jinping has set for a potential attack on Taiwan — Taipei is bracing for an encounter, whatever that might look like.
Lt. Col. Chen Xiong, commander of the air force battalion, said the focus of the exercise was to “train officers and soldiers to be familiar with the battlefield at night.”
The recent drill took place near the city of Magong on the Penghu Islands, an archipelago on the Taiwan Strait sandwiched between the Taiwanese mainland and China.
At a base called Wu-De, a Taiwanese army battalion fired for more than 30 minutes off a cliff into the surrounding waters.
The “Zhenjiang Exercise” involved the firing of some 200 mortars, 40 grenade-launched projectiles and 50 machine guns, according to the Taiwanese military.
Taiwan also deployed several M60A3 tanks and CM-21 armored personnel carriers, which carried troops to the shore to line up and fire M249 light machine guns from tactical positions.
Tensions between China and Taiwan have been steadily growing in the past few years as Xi has pledged to reunify with Taiwan, which Beijing considers part of the mainland. The Republic of China, the government in Taiwan, fled the mainland in 1949, escaping a communist takeover.
The inauguration in May of Taiwanese President William Lai Ching-te has only escalated tensions; he is pro-U.S. and has been forceful about defending Taiwan from Chinese aggression.
The U.S., which does not officially recognize Taiwan’s independence but commits to arming and supporting the self-governing country, is vital to any defense of Taipei should China attack.
Read the full report at TheHill.com.
