Taiwan Launches 10-Day Han Kuang War Drills
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- Taiwan began the 10-day Han Kuang exercise on August 5 after an underground command centre in Taipei issued the drill order, with combat-readiness moves including fighter jet dispersals and emergency naval deployments.
- Taiwan will for the first time incorporate a U.S.-style "backbrief" approach in which junior officers restate mission details to commanders "to ensure commanders and subordinates are in sync on operational intent."
- Taiwan will deliberately slow mobile internet speeds for the first time to test how civilians would communicate if bandwidth became scarce, along with simulating wartime relocation of a major arsenal and mobilizing civilian factories.
- Taiwan will run escort drills off its Pacific coast amid concern that Beijing may be rehearsing how to sever the island's supply lines from allies, a defence official told Reuters.
- The drills will mobilize more than 20,000 troops, including about 5,000 reservists, and run through August 14, with an "embedded reporter" mechanism to assess wartime frontline news releases and counter enemy disinformation.
- China's defence ministry did not respond to a request for comment; the article notes Beijing has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control.
Why it matters: Taiwan is explicitly moving past the past criticism that its drills were "too highly staged" — a defence official told Reuters the exercises are now "a real field environment, facing real bottom-line conditions." The expansion from purely military scenarios to mobile internet throttling, civilian factory mobilization, and disinformation countermeasures signals a whole-of-society shift in how the island prepares for a Chinese attack, with more than 20,000 troops and 5,000 reservists involved through August 14.
