Han Kuang war drills to use Taoyuan, Taitung airports for first time
ROC Central News Agency
07/11/2023 02:42 PM
Taipei, July 11 (CNA) Taiwan's military will conduct an anti-takeover drill at its major international gateway and an emergency landing and takeoff drill at a civilian airport in eastern Taiwan during the live-fire portion of this year's Han Kuang exercises.
It will be the first time either of those airports will be part of the annual war games conducted by Taiwan to test its combat readiness.
Major General Lin Wen-huang (林文皇), who is in charge of planning at the Ministry of National Defense (MND), said the anti-takeover drill at Taoyuan International Airport will be held on July 26 and the drill at Taitung Fengnian Airport will be held on July 25.
The five-day island-wide live-fire exercises are scheduled for July 24 to 28.
The anti-takeover drill will involve members of the Aviation and Special Forces Command and Army Airborne Special Forces posing as invading forces, with ground troops deployed to repel the takeover, according to the MND.
Such drills were previously staged at other airports in Taiwan but never at Taiwan's busiest civilian airport in Taoyuan.
Transportation Minister Wang Kwo-tsai (王國材) previously said the drill is scheduled to last about an hour, but Wang said their impact would be felt for up to two hours, and at least 61 flights and more than 4,000 travelers could be affected.
Past reports of plans related to the exercises have indicated that the airport will remain open to passenger traffic while the drills are being held but that one of the airport's two runways may be closed on the morning of July 26.
The MND, Transportation Ministry, and Taoyuan airport operators provided no further details about possible flight delays or whether passengers connecting through the airport should adjust their plans, despite there being only about two weeks before the drills are to be held.
The emergency landing and takeoff drill at Taitung, meanwhile, will also be staged for the first time at the Taitung airport, which opened in 1981.
The drill will be conducted to test the ability of Taiwan's civilian airports and emergency landing strips to handle takeoff and landing missions during wartime, according to the MND.
The Han Kuang exercises, Taiwan's major war games held annually since 1984 in the form of live-fire drills and computerized war games, are meant to test Taiwan's combat readiness in the face of a possible Chinese invasion.
This year's tabletop drills were staged in May.
Meanwhile, the annual Wanan air defense exercise is to be held across Taiwan and its outlying islands from July 24 to 27 this year, with air raid sirens set to sound at 1:30 pm to signal the start of the 30-minute drills.
Following the half-hour air raid drills, another half hour of drills will be staged by local city and county governments to test public-private sector cooperation in helping evacuees following a major disaster or if a war were to break out, according to the MND.
(By Joseph Yeh)
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