Taiwan’s armed forces began a five-day combat readiness drill this week, with the island’s defense ministry announcing the exercise on Sunday as part of a broader push to modernize military training by shifting away from scripted events toward more realistic, war-simulating scenarios.
The island sits at the center of an ongoing territorial dispute — China considers Taiwan part of its own territory, a claim the government in Taipei firmly rejects. Taiwan says Chinese military forces regularly operate in the airspace and waters surrounding the island in an effort to pressure it into accepting Chinese rule.
As part of its updated training approach, Taiwan’s military has begun designing drills around a scenario in which China suddenly converts one of its routine exercises near the island into a real military assault.
The defense ministry identified the exercise as the “Immediate Combat Readiness Exercise,” scheduled to run from Monday through Friday. Officials described it as part of the military’s annual joint operations training program.
According to the ministry, “The main objective is to train units at all levels to become familiar with combat practices and the battlefield environment during the readiness deployment phase, and to strengthen rapid peacetime-to-wartime transition and priority deployment actions.”
The ministry further stated the exercise would be carried out with “actual troops, on actual terrain, in real time, using actual equipment, and through actual implementation.”
Officials said the drills would sharpen command structures at every level and build combat-ready capabilities among troops, with a particular focus on joint operations command and control, supply chain sustainment, and battlefield preparation.
The announcement coincided with a separate ministry statement reporting that China had conducted another “combat readiness patrol” in the vicinity of Taiwan. According to the ministry, China deployed 21 aircraft during that patrol, including J-16 fighter jets, KJ-500 airborne early warning and control planes, and Y-20 aerial refueling aircraft. Nineteen of those aircraft moved into airspace southwest of Taiwan and out into the Western Pacific to carry out what China described as “long-distance training over open seas.”
Attempts to reach China’s defense ministry for a response went unanswered on Sunday, as the calls came outside of normal office hours.
Taiwan has been conducting military exercises with increasing frequency. Earlier this month, the island fired its newly acquired U.S.-made HIMARS rocket system — the same weapon widely used by Ukraine — into the Taiwan Strait. Taiwan’s primary annual military exercise, the Han Kuang war games, is expected to be held in August.
