TAMSUI/TAOYUAN, Taiwan: Taiwan carried out anti-landing drills on a strategic river on Monday at the start of the annual Han Kuang war games, which this year aim to be as close as possible to actual combat with no script and simulating how to repel a Chinese attack.
China, which views democratically governed Taiwan as its territory, has been staging regular exercises around the island for four years to pressure Taipei to accept Beijing’s claim of sovereignty, despite Taiwan’s strong objections.
Taiwan’s drills this year have canceled elements that were mostly for show, like scripted firepower displays, while there will be intensified nighttime exercises and practicing how to operate with severed command lines.
Kicking off the first day of exercises in Tamsui at the mouth of a major river leading to Taipei, soldiers practiced laying mines and nets to stymie the landing of enemy forces, part of a series of drills designed to prevent the capital being seized.
“We are trying our best to slow them down as much as possible,” military office Chang Chih-pin told reporters, referring to a scenario where the enemy was trying to make landfall by sending rubber boats into the Tamsui River.
“The slower they move, the better for us,” he added.
Earlier on Monday in nearby Taoyuan, outside of Taipei and home to Taiwan’s main international airport, reservists gathered to get their orders as they would during a war, and civilian vans were pressed into service to carry supplies.
On Thursday, Taoyuan airport will close for an hour in the morning for the drills, though a typhoon is expected to be impacting the island that day meaning that the exercise could be delayed.
Taiwan’s defense ministry also published video of air force fighter jets at the Hualien air base on the island’s east coast, which has hangars cut out of the side of a mountain to protect aircraft from aerial attack.
Live fire drills will only take place on Taiwan’s outlying islands, including Kinmen and Matsu which sit nestled next to the Chinese coast and were the scene of on-off clashes during the height of the Cold War.
The five-day war games will be happening in conjunction with the Wan’an civil defense drills, where the streets of major cities are evacuated for half an hour during a simulated Chinese missile attack, and test warning alarms will sound on mobile phones.
The drill scenarios this week include setting up contingency command lines after existing hubs are destroyed and dispersing Chinese forces trying to land on Taiwan’s western coastline facing China, a defense official involved in the planning said.
China held two days of its own war games around the island shortly after President Lai Ching-te took office in May, saying it was “punishment” for his inauguration speech, which Beijing denounced as being full of separatist content.
But China has also been using grey zone warfare against Taiwan, wielding irregular tactics to exhaust a foe by keeping them continually on alert without resorting to open combat. This includes almost daily air force missions into the skies near Taiwan.
China has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control. Lai, who says only the Taiwanese people can decide their future, has repeatedly offered talks but been rebuffed.
Taiwan starts annual war games, aiming to closely mimic actual combat
Taiwan starts annual war games, aiming to closely mimic actual combat
- The five-day war games will be happening in conjunction with the Wan’an civil defense drills
- China has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control
Britain’s PM Starmer faces MPs as pressure grows over Mandelson scandal
- Keir Starmer set to be grilled in parliament about his judgment in appointing Peter Mandelson as US ambassador
- New allegations former envoy passed confidential information to the late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein
LONDON: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer faced growing pressure Wednesday over his appointment of Peter Mandelson as US ambassador, after fresh revelations about the disgraced politician’s close ties to Jeffrey Epstein.
Starmer was set to be grilled in parliament about his judgment in appointing Mandelson, following new allegations that the ex-envoy had passed confidential information to the late US sex offender Epstein nearly two decades ago.
UK police have announced they are now probing the claims, which emerged from email exchanges between the pair that revealed the extent of their warm relations, financial dealings as well as private photos.
Around that time, Epstein was serving an 18-month jail term for soliciting a minor in Florida while Mandelson was a UK government minister.
For decades a pivotal and often divisive figure in British politics, Mandelson has had a chequered career having twice been forced to resign from public office for alleged misconduct.
Starmer sacked him as UK ambassador to the US last September after an earlier Epstein files release showed their ties had lasted longer than previously revealed. He had only been in the post for seven months.
On Tuesday, Mandelson resigned from the upper house of parliament — the unelected House of Lords — after the latest release of Epstein files sparked a renewed furor.
Opposition pressure
The main Conservative opposition will use its parliamentary time Wednesday to try to force the release of papers on his appointment in Washington.
They want MPs to order the publication of all documents related to Mandelson getting the job in February last year.
They want to see details of the vetting procedure — including messages exchanged with senior ministers and key figures in Starmer’s inner circle — amid growing questions about Starmer’s lack of judgment on the issue.
Starmer’s center-left government appeared willing to comply on Wednesday, at least in part. It proposed releasing the documents apart from those “prejudicial to UK national security or international relations.”
London’s Metropolitan Police confirmed on Tuesday it had launched an investigation into 72-year-old Mandelson for misconduct in public office offenses following the latest revelations.
If any charges were brought and he was convicted, he could potentially face imprisonment.
Starmer sacked the former minister and ex-EU trade commissioner as Britain’s top diplomat in the US after an earlier release from the Epstein files detailed his cozy ties with the disgraced American.
‘Let his country down’
The scandal resurfaced after the release by the US Justice Department of the latest batch of documents. They showed Mandelson had forwarded in 2009 an economic briefing to Epstein intended for then-prime minister Gordon Brown.
In another 2010 email the US financier, who died by suicide in prison in 2019, asked Mandelson about the European Union’s bailout of Greece.
The latest release also showed Epstein appeared to have transferred a total of $75,000 in three payments to accounts linked to the British politician between 2003 and 2004.
Mandelson has told the BBC he had no memory of the money transfers and did not know whether the documents were authentic.
He quit his House of Lords position on Tuesday shortly after Starmer said he had “let his country down.”
The UK leader said Tuesday he feared more revelations could come, and has pledged his government would cooperate with any police inquiries into the matter.
The Met police confirmed they had received a referral on the matter from the UK government.
The EU is also investigating whether Mandelson breached any of their rules during his time from 2004-2008 as EU trade commissioner.
