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Taiwan Starts Five-Day Combat Drills as China Carrier Crosses Strait
Taiwan is conducting five days of immediate combat readiness drills this week. Defense Minister Wellington Koo said the exercises test rapid response to a potential Chinese attack whose warning time is shortening. China called the drills evidence of malicious intent by Taiwan's ruling party.
The Japan TimesAudio version
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Taiwan is holding five days of immediate combat readiness drills this week. The exercises are based on a scenario in which China converts one of its regular exercises around the island into an actual attack. Defense Minister Wellington Koo said on Wednesday that Taiwan needs to verify it can respond immediately because the warning time for any Chinese attack is shortening.
The drills emphasize the ability to shift quickly from peacetime to wartime status and to operate under a decentralized regional command structure, he told reporters in parliament. -made HIMARS rocket system into the Taiwan Strait this month. Its main annual Han Kuang military exercises are scheduled for August.
China’s newest aircraft carrier sailed through the Taiwan Strait on Tuesday. China’s military operates around Taiwan on an almost daily basis, and it held its most recent full-scale war games around the island in late December. Zhang Han, spokesperson for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, said on Wednesday that the drills showed the ruling Democratic Progressive Party’s malicious intent to seek independence by force.
She added that Beijing remains willing to pursue peaceful reunification but will not renounce the use of force against separatist activities.
