Taiwan Launches Five-Day Combat Readiness Drills as China Ramps Up Air Patrols

Taiwan's Defence Ministry announced on Sunday that the military will conduct a five-day combat readiness exercise starting Monday, as part of efforts to modernise training and shift focus to realistic, war-simulating scenarios.

The 'Immediate Combat Readiness Exercise' will run until Friday, involving actual troops, terrain, time, equipment, and implementation, the ministry said in a statement. The drill aims to train units in combat practices and battlefield environment during readiness deployment, strengthen peacetime-to-wartime transitions, and enhance joint operations command and control, logistical sustainment, and battlefield preparation.

The announcement came on the same day China dispatched 21 military aircraft, including J-16 fighters, KJ-500 airborne early warning aircraft, and Y-20 aerial refuelling aircraft, near Taiwan. Nineteen of these entered the airspace southwest of the island and into the Western Pacific for long-distance training over open seas, according to Taiwan's Defence Ministry. Taiwan responded with its own forces, using standard wording for appropriate response.

China claims Taiwan as part of its territory, a position the government in Taipei rejects. Taiwan says China's military routinely operates around the island to pressure it into accepting Chinese sovereignty. In response, Taiwan has based some drills on scenarios where China turns regular exercises into an actual attack.

Taiwan regularly holds military exercises, including earlier this month when it fired US-made HIMARS rocket systems into the Taiwan Strait. The main annual Han Kuang war games are expected in August.