Round-the-clock live fire, urban survival drills: Taiwan to test war readiness

For the first time, Taiwan’s largest annual military exercise will combine conventional war games and urban survival drills under “unprecedented” live-fire conditions when it gets under way next week.

The move signals growing concerns in Taipei that Beijing could trigger a prolonged conflict requiring both military defence and civilian resilience.

The 41st Han Kuang exercise from July 9 to 18 would test joint operational readiness under “unprecedented 10-day, round-the-clock live-fire conditions”, the Taiwanese defence ministry said on Tuesday.

The ministry stated that this year’s edition would incorporate the “whole-of-society resilience” approach, introduced last year by Taiwanese leader William Lai Ching-te as an updated civil defence model.

The urban drills would feature air-raid warnings, mass evacuations and critical infrastructure protection across multiple regions. The aim, the ministry said, was to simulate a full-spectrum response to war – from the initial non-military “grey zone” pressure to full attack, coastal landings, and extended urban warfare.

“Only through readiness can we preserve peace,” said Major General Tung Chi-hsing, head of the ministry’s joint operations planning division, emphasising that integration of civil defence and national mobilisation was key to Taiwan’s overall resilience.

  

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