By Ann Wang and Fabian Hamacher
TAOYUAN, Taiwan (Reuters) – Taiwan conducted an anti-aircraft landing drill at its main international airport for the first time on Wednesday, simulating the repulsion of an invading force as China ramps up military pressure to force the island to accept its sovereignty.
The drill at the island’s main Taoyuan international airport was part of Taiwan’s main annual Han Kuang exercises that started on Monday, focusing on protecting its infrastructure and striking incoming enemy ships to keep key waterways open.
China, which views democratically governed Taiwan as its territory, has been staging regular exercises around the island for the past three years, to pressure Taipei to accept Beijing’s claim of sovereignty despite the island’s strong rejections.
Six helicopters including Apache attack helicopters and some 180 soldiers took part in the drill to simulate the repulsion of an enemy force who had seized control of air traffic control facilities at the airport, the defence ministry said.
Soldiers carrying rifles were seen running on the runway to fight off enemy forces being dropped off by the helicopters. Shortly, a soldier waved Taiwan’s national flag on a jet bridge, signalling their victory.
Overseeing a separate drill in the northern city of Taoyuan simulating physical and cyber attacks on an oil refinery, President Tsai Ing-wen said Taiwan must boost its resilience in the event of an emergency.
“We must continue to boost Taiwan’s resilience for disasters so that when facing threats we can recover fast and minimize the impact of operation outages,” she said.
In the early hours of Wednesday, the military police conducted a “key infrastructure defence drill” at the Taipei Main Station, practicing taking back control of the transport hub in the event of fighting in the capital Taipei.
Tsai has made modernising the military a top priority, pushing for various defence projects including developing Taiwan’s own jets and submarines. She repeatedly vows to defend the island’s freedom and democracy if China attacks.
(Reporting By Ann Wang and Fabian Hamacher; Writing By Yimou Lee; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)
