{"id":28357,"date":"2026-08-05T08:56:55","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T03:56:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=28357"},"modified":"2026-08-05T08:56:55","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T03:56:55","slug":"taiwan-launches-major-war-games-to-test-command-flexibility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=28357","title":{"rendered":"Taiwan launches major war games to test command flexibility"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-article-body=\"true\" data-body-type=\"bodyblocks\">\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">By Yimou Lee<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">TAIPEI, Aug 5 (Reuters) &#8211; Taiwan began major military drills on Wednesday to test commanders&#8217; ability to fight on the fly when enemy movements defy expectations, while temporarily limiting internet access for the first time, \u200csenior Taiwan officials said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The 10-day annual Han Kuang exercise began early in the morning after an underground command \u200ccentre in Taipei issued the drill order, triggering combat-readiness moves that will include fighter jet dispersals and emergency naval deployments, two senior Taiwan officials briefed on the \u200bmatter told Reuters.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Taiwan will also incorporate for the first time a so-called &#8220;backbrief&#8221; approach modelled on U.S. military practice, in which junior officers receiving orders restate mission details to commanders \u2014 a move aimed at improving coordination, the officials added, requesting anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The move, one of the officials said, is to &#8220;ensure commanders and subordinates are in sync on operational intent.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The drill will also \u200cfocus on a key wartime concern: that \u2060China, which claims Taiwan as its own despite the island&#8217;s objections, would try to paralyse command centres, ports, logistics and defence industry sites early in an attack.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">China&#8217;s defence ministry did not respond to \u2060a request for comment. China has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">WARTIME RELOCATION<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Held annually since 1984, authorities will for the first time include in the drills the deliberate slowing of mobile internet speeds to test how civilians would communicate if bandwidth \u200bbecame \u200bscarce.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The military will simulate the wartime relocation of a major arsenal, mobilise \u200bcivilian factories and run escort drills off Taiwan&#8217;s \u200cPacific coast, as concern grows that Beijing may be rehearsing how to sever the island&#8217;s Pacific supply lines from allies as Chinese military pressure intensifies.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;These are all part of a series of toughening exercises \u2014 this is no longer a laboratory-like exercise in a vacuum,&#8221; said a third senior official, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the operation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;You are entering a real field environment, facing real bottom-line conditions. We hope the final phase of training reaches that state,&#8221; the defence official said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">That is \u200cpart of Taiwan&#8217;s ongoing effort to make its exercises more realistic, following \u200bpast criticism that some drills were too highly staged.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">RESILIENCE DRILLS<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The effort has included \u200bresilience drills testing how local officials would keep the \u200bgovernment running during cascading crises, from earthquakes to a Chinese invasion.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;If the situation does not match the \u200coriginal enemy scenario, what should he do? How should \u200bhe reassess, readjust, and quickly \u200bissue orders?&#8221; the defence official said, referring to field commanders who will be tested with &#8220;unexpected scenarios&#8221; during the drills, which end on August 14.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The drills will mobilise more than 20,000 troops, including about 5,000 reservists.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The military will also introduce \u200ban &#8220;embedded reporter&#8221; mechanism to assess wartime frontline \u200cnews releases and efforts to counter enemy disinformation, the officials said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;The emphasis will be on how our entire \u200bpopulation, the Republic of China as a whole \u2014 especially our citizens \u2014 should face war,&#8221; the defence official said, \u200busing Taiwan&#8217;s official name.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">(Reporting by Yimou Lee; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Yimou Lee TAIPEI, Aug 5 (Reuters) &#8211; Taiwan began major military drills on Wednesday to test commanders&#8217; ability to fight on the fly when enemy movements defy expectations, while temporarily limiting internet access for the first time, \u200csenior Taiwan officials said. The 10-day annual Han Kuang exercise began early in the morning after an&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28358,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/lo\/mysterio\/api\/887ab44cacca49bee7fcba694969153dc626888aa0e0aa49605117c88d864e47\/lightyear_networkapi\/resizefill_w800_h533%3Bquality_80%3Bformat_jpg\/https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.zenfs.com%2Fen%2Freuters.com%2Feafd583b209a8199e29e888bcadd5b8b","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-real-trending-viral-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28357"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28357\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/28358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}