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MND MUM ON REPORT ABOUT U.S. OFFICERS OBSERVING WAR SIMULATIONS

ROC Central News Agency

2005-04-19 21:49:33

    Taipei, April 19 (CNA) The Ministry of National Defense (MND) declined to comment Tuesday on a Japanese media report that a delegation from the U.S. Pacific Command has arrived in Taipei to observe Taiwan's "Han Kuang 21" series of military exercises.

    Japan's public television channel NHK reported earlier that day that former U.S. Pacific Command Commander-in-Chief Adm. Dennis Blair is heading a 20-member delegation that is observing Taiwan's ongoing computerized war simulations.

    In response to press inquiries about the NHK report, MND officials said it is the ministry's established policy to refrain from commenting on such reports.

    The annual Han Kuang series of exercises comprise two parts -- computer war games and live-fire drills.

    The five-day computer war simulations kicked off Monday, including a simulation of a Chinese missile and air attack on Taiwan and a simulation of a naval invasion and air attack in the Taiwan Strait, MND sources said.

    According to the sources, the computer war games this year will continue to focus on joint operations and discovering the military's shortcomings and deficiencies. The findings will have an impact on the military's future arms procurement plans, the sources said.

    Meanwhile, the sources went on, a U.S.-developed joint theater-level simulation system (JTLS) is being used in the Han Kuang 21 war simulations. The system uses computer images that resemble a live-fire maneuver.

    The JTLS is capable of remotely linking up to the nation's top military command, the sources said, adding that the military personnel participating in the computer war-game exercises need no longer gather at the maximum-security Hengshan Command in suburban Taipei.

    The war simulations will hone various combat strategies and tactics, including anti-blockade strategies, airborne defense control, naval forces' air defense and maritime control tactics, as well as cyber-defense operations.

    The live-fire drills are scheduled for June through August to verify combat strategies and tactics hammered out during the computer war-game exercises. These maneuvers will include strategies to cope with surprise attacks on a major local oil depot and undersea cables, as well as counter strategies against unlimited and asymmetric warfare methods such as carpet bombing, infiltrations, abductions, hijackings, computer virus attacks and decapitation strikes.

    Decapitation strategies short-circuit command and control systems, wipe out nationwide nerve centers and leave the opponent hopelessly immobilized. Many military observers say China is very likely to use this strategy in an invasion of Taiwan by seizing the nation's center of power -- the capital -- along with its top leaders.

(By Sofia Wu)

ENDITEM/J