Taiwan Launches Han Kuang Drills as China Pressure Mounts
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- Taiwan launched its largest annual "Han Kuang" military drills from Aug 5 to 14, staging combat scenarios for troops and reservists against a potential Chinese invasion, with civilians included in air raid and urban resilience exercises.
- China continues near-daily military pressure around Taiwan through fighter jet and warship deployments, while its coast guard has stepped up grey zone activities near the island and its outer islands.
- Taiwan's government plans to boost defence spending to 5% of GDP by 2030, focusing on asymmetric warfare with smaller, more nimble weapons including drones.
- Opposition parties KMT and Taiwan People's Party passed a US$25 billion (S$32 billion) special defence budget in May but slashed the DPP's original request by a third, stripping out roughly US$15 billion the government had earmarked for domestic drone procurement and other defence boosts.
- The Han Kuang exercise centres on decentralising command and control, enabling battlefield commanders to make operational decisions without waiting for orders from above.
- Civilian drills will include a 30-minute mobile internet slowdown in central and northern Taiwan during air raid exercises to expose the public to communications disruptions.
- President Lai Ching-te told a security forum on the eve of the drills that "red terror is also spreading into every corner of the world" as CCP authoritarianism expands, pledging to upgrade national defence and build whole-of-society resilience.
Why it matters: Taiwan's opposition-controlled parliament cut roughly US$15 billion the government wanted for drones and other defence purchases from the US$25 billion special budget passed in May — creating an immediate funding gap for the very asymmetric, drone-centric war-fighting approach the 10-day Han Kuang exercise is designed to validate.
