Taiwan Drills as China Attack Warning Time Shrinks
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- Taiwan's Defence Minister Wellington Koo told Parliament on June 24 that the military must verify it can convert from peacetime to wartime status immediately, saying the warning time for a Chinese attack is shortening.
- Taiwan launched five-day 'immediate combat readiness' drills whose scenarios simulate China suddenly turning one of its regular exercises around the island into an actual attack.
- The exercises also test whether the armed forces can still respond under a decentralised regional command structure, Koo said.
- China's Taiwan Affairs Office spokeswoman Zhang Han condemned the drills as the DPP's 'malicious intent to seek independence by force' and said the 'posturing is completely futile; it will only harm and destroy Taiwan.'
- Zhang Han reiterated that Beijing 'will never pledge to renounce the use of force' and 'will never leave any room for separatist activities seeking Taiwan independence in any form.'
- China's newest aircraft carrier sailed through the Taiwan Strait on June 23, a day before the drills began; Taiwan's main annual Han Kuang exercises are scheduled for August.
Why it matters: Taipei is no longer training for a distant contingency — these drills assume China could flip a routine exercise into a real attack with minimal notice, and Koo's emphasis on decentralised command means the military is preparing to fight the opening hours without centralised direction. The carrier transit one day before the drills began shows that pressure is now near-daily, raising the operational stakes of any miscalculation in the strait.
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