Taiwan Military Holds Combat Drill Against Chinese Invasion Threat

Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory despite the objections of the government in Taipei, says China's armed forces routinely operate in the skies and seas around the island in an effort to pressure Taiwan to accept Chinese sovereignty.

Taiwan's defence ministry quoted by Reuters says Chinese warplanes and warships often carry out "joint combat readiness patrols".

It reported another such patrol on Wednesday, involving 22 Chinese aircraft.

In the exercise carried out in front of media in Taiwan's eastern county of Taitung, “troops, tanks and armoured personnel carriers advanced across the ground as explosions rang out, beating back an invading force”, the report said.

The report quoting country’s defence ministry said the exercise "simulated the enemy military turning drills into war during joint combat readiness patrols" with "concealed people" guiding aerial strikes and commando assaults on critical infrastructure and other targets.

Over the past year-and-a-half China has staged two rounds of major war games around Taiwan, raising fears of a conflict which would could drag in the United States and its allies, especially Japan.

China practised precision strikes and blockades in drills around the island last April after Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen met U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy in Los Angeles.

Taiwan's traditional military thinking during a conflict has been to use its mountainous east coast, especially the two air bases there, as a place to regroup and preserve its forces given it does not directly face China unlike Taiwan's west coast.