Taiwan starts huge military drills at Han Kuang as tensions with China rise

• Beijing has reacted strongly to reports that US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is thinking about going to Taiwan.
• It warned that China’s military would “resolutely defend national sovereignty” if Taiwanese independence was being pushed by “external forces”.
• The Han Kuang military exercises have been going on all week in Taiwan.

In fake scenes, an enemy tries to take control of a key waterway near the capital of Taiwan. The invading forces aim for the mouth of the Tamsui River on the northern coast of the island. This is a strategic estuary that gives direct access to the centre of Taipei.

In response, Taiwan’s military sends out Indigenous Defense Fighter (IDF) jets and tanks, and troops on the ground set off explosives to stop the move.

The scenes are part of the Han Kuang exercises that have been going on all week in Taiwan and its nearby islands. The exercises end on Friday. Every year since 1984, all of Taiwan’s military, including its reserve forces, has taken part in this event, which aims to improve the country’s overall defence.

This year, the drills are more important because people are worried about what China will do with Taiwan, an island with its own government that Beijing’s Communist Party claims as its own.

The invasion of Ukraine by Russia has made these worries even stronger. Beijing hasn’t ruled out using force to take control of Taiwan, and it has been sending planes into Taiwan’s self-declared air defence identification zone to put more military pressure on the island.

Beijing has also reacted strongly to reports that US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is thinking about going to Taipei. It warned that China’s military would “resolutely defend national sovereignty” if Taiwanese independence was being pushed by “external forces”

China’s Ministry of Defense spokesperson Tan Kefei said on Tuesday in response to questions about Pelosi’s rumoured trip to Taipei, “China demands the US take concrete actions to fulfill its commitment not to support ‘Taiwan independence’ and not to arrange for Pelosi to visit Taiwan,”

“If the US insists on taking its own course, the Chinese military will never sit idly by, and it will definitely take strong actions to thwart any external force’s interference and separatist’s schemes for ‘Taiwan independence,’ and resolutely defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Tan added.