Taiwan began five days of combat readiness exercises on Monday, the defense ministry said, aimed at speeding up the deployment of the military in the event of a possible Chinese attack.
The “Immediate Combat Readiness Exercise” running until Friday is part of the “planned annual joint operations exercise”, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said in a statement on Sunday.
Taiwan’s military regularly holds drills to prepare for a possible attack by China, which claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has threatened to use force to bring the island under its control.
The exercise aims to “train units at all levels during the deployment phase of combat readiness, familiarizing them with combat practices and the battlefield environment, and strengthening their ability to quickly transition between peacetime and wartime operations,” the MND said.
Taiwan has spent billions of dollars to upgrade its military in the past decade, but is under intense pressure from the US to do more to defend itself against the growing threat from China.
