Taiwan holds most expansive annual drills ever to counter China

Taiwan kicked off its most expansive annual military drills – underscoring President Lai Ching-te’s drive to protect the self-run democracy from China’s assertiveness.

The Han Kuang exercises that started Wednesday will last 10 days, double the usual number for the drills that date to 1984, and more than 20,000 reservists are being called up – the most ever.

Civilians are also getting involved to an unprecedented degree, illustrated by the basements of a major supermarket chain used as air-raid shelters. Local governments around the archipelago of 23 million people will also test their ability to maintain essential services and distribute supplies in a crisis.

“The goal of the Han Kuang drill this year is to strengthen Taiwan’s ability to offer long-term resistance and to build the resilience in both the military and civil society,” said Chieh Chung, adjunct associate research fellow at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, a think tank affiliated with the government in Taipei.

“This year’s planning for the exercise better reflects actual scenarios that could occur if China were to launch a military attack on Taiwan.”

Since Lai became president last year, he has made preparing Taiwan for a Chinese attack a priority. In recent weeks he has been delivering a series of speeches around Taiwan urging the public to unite in standing up to China, addresses that Beijing has harshly condemned for touching on independence. And in September last year, Lai convened the first meeting of a civil defense committee aimed at ensuring the archipelago could function in any emergency.

Lai’s push has largely been a response to increased Chinese military pressure, with the People’s Liberation Army repeatedly holding drills around Taiwan since he took office. Taipei said that in May China deployed dozens of warships and government vessels in the region daily, describing the activity as an extreme pressure campaign.

Highlighting the PLA’s intimidation, last month it sent the most warplanes toward Taiwan since October, flights that followed US lawmakers holding a rare, publicly disclosed meeting with Taiwan’s defense minister, Wellington Koo.

Beijing views the archipelago as part of its territory that must be brought under its control eventually, by force if peaceful means fail. The US is Taiwan’s military backer, and in May Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned that preparations for a potential Chinese invasion were urgently needed. Still, officials in Taipei say that a conflict with Beijing is not imminent.

The drills are partly intended as a signal to the US and other nations that Taiwan will defend itself if attacked. President Donald Trump has questioned the thinking behind America’s commitment to the security of the archipelago, and suggested on the campaign trail that Taipei should raise defense spending.

“It is unclear if five more days and more reservists actually makes a meaningful difference but the increase looks meaningful, and the performance of the extended drills will get noticed internationally,” said Lev Nachman, a political scientist at National Taiwan University in Taipei. “This helps Lai spread his message of taking defense seriously to those in the world who are watching.”

Convincing the international community that Taiwan was willing and capable of defending itself by the expanded Han Kuang drills would hopefully increase the chances other nations would support the democracy if China attacked, said an official from the Defense Ministry in Taipei, who asked not to be identified discussing sensitive matters.

It could also deter the PLA from any attempting any adventurism, the official added.

This year’s Han Kuang drills will also feature more of the military materiel that Taiwan buys from the US, including HIMARS multiple-launch rocket systems. In May, Taiwan conducted its first live-fire test of the rockets, which have proved devastatingly effective in Ukraine’s efforts to defend against Russia’s invasion.

One reason Taiwan was extending the drills to 10 days was the need to try out new weaponry, especially drones, Chieh said, referring to the unmanned aerial vehicles that have played a large role in the war in Ukraine and that Taipei views as increasingly important.

“The military is currently developing operational guidelines and tactics for the use of drones as well as countermeasures against Chinese UAVs,” he said. “This exercise may serve as a platform to validate and revise the preliminary drafts of those guidelines.”

These exercises would place a greater focus on urban warfare than in past years, he said, a sign Taiwanese military officials are less optimistic about stopping the rapidly developing PLA at sea or in the air.

The Han Kuang drills would also take into account China’s increased use of so-called gray-zone harassment, said Lin Ying-yu, assistant professor at the Graduate Institute of International Affairs and Strategic Studies at Tamkang University in Taipei – a reference to things like misinformation campaigns and provocations aimed at starting a fight in the first place.

“China’s threat to Taiwan has evolved,” he said. “So it’s important for Taiwan to incorporate responses to such tactics into the drills.”

Lin added that practicing “whole-of-society defense resilience is also essential because modern warfare no longer distinguishes between front lines and rear areas – the rear can also come under attack.”