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MND UNVEILS 2004 MILITARY TRAINING DRILL SCHEDULE

2004-02-10 21:32:34

    Taipei, Feb. 10 (CNA) The Ministry of National Defense (MND) unveiled a detailed schedule for its military training exercises for 2004 Tuesday, with large-scale live-fire training drills mostly concentrated between April and November.

    Wang Kuo-chiang, an MND department chief in charge of military training affairs, said the arrangement was mainly based on the demand of combat units and had nothing to do with the upcoming presidential election or the escalating tension across the Taiwan Strait over Taiwan's referendum plan. "The exercise schedule has long been crafted in terms of the requirements of strengthening combined services combat capabilities," Wang said, adding that the military training schedule has neither been delayed for the sake of the March 20 presidential election nor increased over Beijing's intimidation against Taiwan's plan to hold a referendum in conjunction with the presidential election.

    Wang further said that training drills on the Taiwan-held frontline islands of Kinmen and Matsu, both of which lie closer to mainland China than to Taiwan, will proceed as scheduled and will not be affected by President Chen Shui-bian's recent proposal to set up "demilitarized zones" between Taiwan and mainland China in order to ensure permanent cross-strait peace.

    Stressing that Chen's "demilitarized zones" initiative remains on the drawing board, Wang said the military's combat training and preparedness will not be affected by the proposal.

    Noting that this year's training programs have been designed in line with the principles of maintaining cross-strait stability, preventing war, maintaining electronic warfare supremacy and beefing up combined services combat capabilities, Wang said a total of 42 training drills in four major categories -- live-fire war games, mobilization, nuclear and chemical warfare preparedness and general combat skill training -- will be conducted during the year.

    According to Wang, many of the training drills will integrate forces from various military regions, with the chief of the general staff's headquarters commanding all maneuvers.

    With the aim of reinforcing the armed forces' ability to attack maritime targets from frontline islands and their air defense capabilities, Wang said the number of combined services training exercises has been raised this year.

    Meanwhile, Wang went on, the Hangkuang Exercise -- the largest training drill of the year -- will be conducted in three stages. The first stage, to be held in the second half of April, will focus on tactical training; the second stage, to be held in mid-June, will focus on computerized war games; and the third-stage, to be held from late June through November, will focus on amphibious live-fire war games in waters and air space surrounding Taiwan.

    In addition, Wang said, a total of 10 rounds of combined services training drills will be held on the islands of Kinmen, Matsu, Penghu, Tungyin and Wuchiu.

(By Sofia Wu)

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