Taiwan is expanding its annual war games to test whether the island’s factories, supply routes and communications networks can keep functioning during a Chinese attack, adding new industrial and civilian resilience measures to next month’s Han Kuang exercises.
The August 5–14 drills will simulate Beijing using what appears to be a routine military exercise to mask preparations for a full-scale invasion, Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense said. Under the scenario, Taiwanese forces would have limited warning before raising combat readiness and launching rapid-response operations.
For the first time, Han Kuang will simulate relocating operations from the Armaments Bureau’s 202nd Arsenal in Taipei and activating civilian factories to conduct “whole-system assembly” under emergency orders, Major General Lu Wen-yuan of the ministry’s Joint Operations Division said, according to Reuters. The exercise will test whether weapons production can be dispersed away from fixed facilities and sustained through civilian industrial capacity during wartime.
At sea, the navy and coast guard will conduct joint exercises involving personnel, equipment and ammunition, including coast guard vessel refits, coastal strikes, maritime law enforcement and escorts for critical supplies. Reuters reported that Taiwan has also recorded increased Chinese coast guard activity off its Pacific coast, adding another dimension to the military pressure surrounding the island.
Communications will be deliberately degraded as well. During integrated Urban Resilience drills, Taiwan’s National Communications Commission plans to reduce mobile data speeds to roughly 1% of normal capacity for 30-minute periods across 14 cities and counties, according to The Record. The tests are scheduled for central Taiwan on August 10 and northern Taiwan on August 13.
Video streaming, video calls and large file transfers are expected to become largely unusable, while voice calls, text messages and emergency numbers will remain available. Landlines, fixed broadband, WiFi and military communications networks will not be affected.
Together, the measures broaden the exercise beyond fighting an invasion itself. Taiwan will also rehearse whether it can continue producing weapons, protect essential maritime supply routes and preserve critical communications while the infrastructure supporting those functions is under wartime pressure.
