‘Taiwan’s society must race against time, and work together to build capabilities to ... deter enemy encroachment,’ President Lai Ching-te said.
Taiwan has conducted the first-ever “tabletop exercises,” simulating a military escalation with China amid growing threats from the communist regime in Beijing.
These exercises, involving officials from both central and local government agencies along with civilian observers, aim to enhance social resilience in the face of crises, its president’s office said on Dec. 26.
“To address threats, whether natural disasters or ambitions for authoritarian expansion, we believe that as long as the government and all of society are prepared, we can respond,” President Lai Ching-te
said following the exercises, according to his office. “Of course, these preparations are not easy. Taiwan’s society must race against time and work together to build capabilities to respond to major disasters and threats and deter enemy encroachment.”
The Chinese regime has been ramping up pressure on Taiwan, a self-governing democracy that Beijing claims as its own territory. Although the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has never governed Taiwan, its leader, Xi Jinping, has repeatedly pledged to achieve “reunification” with the island, leaving open the possibility of
using force to do so.
In the face of these continuous threats, Lai said that the tabletop exercises simulated two critical scenarios: one depicting a “high-intensity gray-zone operation” and the other reflecting a state on the brink of conflict.
The primary goal of the exercises, Lai said, was to “ensure that people could carry on their daily lives and that society could function normally” in these scenarios.
This exercise follows the CCP’s staging of two large-scale military drills in the sea and airspace near Taiwan this year. The first war game, involving the Chinese navy, air force, and missile units,
took place just days after Lai was inaugurated as Taiwan’s new president in May. The second one
occurred shortly after Lai delivered a keynote speech celebrating Taiwan’s National Day in October.
As part of its broader strategy to pressure Taiwan, the CCP has frequently sent warplanes, warships, and
balloons close to the island, with many crossing the median line in the Taiwan Strait. This centerline, which was established by the U.S. military decades ago to mitigate tensions between Taiwan and China, has been dismissed by the CCP as nonexistent. In 2023, Chinese military aircraft crossed this unofficial boundary at least 712 times, a notable increase from 552 incursions the previous year, according to the Pentagon’s annual
report, which cites data from Taiwan’s defense ministry.
Despite the increasing activities, Ely Ratner, U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs, said on Dec. 18 that the CCP’s invasion of Taiwan is neither imminent nor inevitable.
Beijing aims to ensure its military can mount “a short, sharp invasion of Taiwan at acceptable costs,” but “they’re not there today,” Ratner
said at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank.
China Sanctions US Defense Firms
Although there are no formal diplomatic ties, the United States maintains a robust relationship with Taiwan based on the Taiwan Relations Act, which authorizes Washington to provide the island with military equipment for its self-defense.
In retaliation for U.S. backing of Taiwan, China imposed sanctions on seven defense companies on Dec. 27.
China’s foreign ministry said in a
statement that Washington’s recent approval of
defense assistance packages for Taiwan “interfere in China’s internal affairs” and “undermine China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
The sanctions targeted five U.S. companies, including Boeing’s Insitu, Hudson Technologies, Saronic Technologies, Aerkomm, and Oceaneering International. Two subsidies of the U.S. aerospace giant RTX Inc, Raytheon Canada and Raytheon Australia, were also sanctioned.
The move will prohibit the companies from further investing in China and freeze their assets within the country, according to the ministry.
The Biden administration on Dec. 20 announced two separate defense assistance packages for Taiwan. President Joe Biden had authorized the drawdown of “up to $571.3 million in defense articles and services of the Department of Defense, and military education and training, to provide assistance to Taiwan,” the White House
said in a brief statement, without elaborating on the details.
The Pentagon said in a separate
statement that the Department of State approved a potential sale of command, control, communications, and computer modernization equipment for an estimated cost of $265 million.
Reuters contributed to this report.
