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Taiwan practices repelling Chinese invasion, creating 'death zone'
🇵🇱 Poland /Conflict & Security

Taiwan practices repelling Chinese invasion, creating 'death zone'

From Rzeczpospolita · () Polish

Translated from Polish, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Sources not specified Ongoing story
  • Taiwan conducted military exercises simulating the repulsion of a Chinese invasion, creating a "death zone" along its coast.
  • The drills involved mobile missile systems, howitzers, mortars, and anti-tank missiles, aiming to prevent a seaborne assault.
  • Tensions remain high as China claims Taiwan as its territory, while Taiwan modernizes its military and asserts its right to self-determination.

Taiwanese forces have conducted large-scale military exercises, simulating the defense against a potential Chinese invasion. The drills, held along an approximately 20-kilometer stretch of coast near Taizhong, focused on creating a "death zone" of intense fire to thwart an enemy landing. These coastal areas are considered the most likely points for a Chinese amphibious assault across the Taiwan Strait.

This time we are no longer firing heavy artillery according to a fixed, routine pattern, as was the case before.

— Ong Yih-mingCommander of artillery, explaining the shift in training methods during the exercises.

The exercises utilized a range of weaponry, including Taiwan's indigenously developed Thunderbolt-2000 mobile missile systems mounted on trucks, American Paladin howitzers, and anti-tank missiles. This display of military readiness is part of Taiwan's ongoing effort to modernize its armed forces and adapt its training methods. Commander of artillery Ong Yih-ming emphasized a shift away from predictable, routine drills towards scenarios that closely mimic actual combat conditions, noting the significant challenge these realistic simulations posed to soldiers.

The time of entering positions was determined based on realistic combat conditions. So I think the training posed a significant challenge for the soldiers.

— Ong Yih-mingHighlighting the realism and difficulty of the simulated combat scenarios.

China considers Taiwan a breakaway province and has not ruled out the use of force to achieve reunification. Beijing has intensified military pressure on the democratically governed island, with Chinese warships and aircraft frequently operating near Taiwan. In response, Taiwan's government rejects China's claims, asserting that the island's future should be decided solely by its residents. Recent weeks have seen increased activity by the Chinese coast guard around Taiwan, which Taipei accuses of attempting to alter the regional status quo.

In the past, we usually took up positions a week in advance and completed all preparations for shooting. This time we arrived on site only the day before and only then began preparations. So the time was relatively limited.

— Liao Neng-chengRocket unit commander, detailing the compressed timeline for preparations compared to previous exercises.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Rzeczpospolita in Polish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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