Taiwan displays military preparedness with exercise that sees tanks on the streets
Taiwan staged drills around the nation today, on the third day of a large-scale military exercise designed to test combat readiness to repel an invasion.
There were tanks on the streets, but no citizens felt threatened: there was no Tank Man attempting to stop the soldiers from carrying out their mission.
“The drills were designed to test the combat readiness of our forces and their responses to an all-out invasion by the enemy,” the Ministry of Defense (MOD) said.
The tank maneuvers were implemented in Yilan County, where four M60A3 moved into tactical positions and applied camouflage to conceal their positions. The exercise was designed to prevent a combat force from falling in a first wave of attack, and retain ability to launch a counterattack.
On Tuesday, a squadron of eight F16 fighter jets scrambled at dawn from Hualien Airforce Base in a simulation to intercept enemy aircraft airspace incursions, the MOD said.
F-16’s and other aircraft took off from bases in Chiayi, Hsinchu, Tainan and Taichung, according to various reports in local media.
The army and navy also took part in anti air attack drills, while the navy deployed Kidd-class destroyers and Perry and Kang Ding-class frigates in coastal defense exercises.
Usually, the military exercises would be seen as part of a normal annual, and quarterly regimen, but the world today is gripped with fear of a global pandemic.
While the original epidemic was raging in China, the Chinese Communist Party sent military missions around Taiwan, in a show of force, that it had not weakened its position, nor its desire to annex Taiwan, even in the midst of a battle against the “invisible enemy” of COVID-19.
At a time when the epidemic is receding in China, and has turned into a pandemic that has put the west into lock-down, and general panic, the US Navy, just days ago, fired a missile during exercises in the South China Sea, and sailed a carrier group into the Philippine Sea.
While Taiwan’s military exercises were being carried out today, a US Navy electronic surveillance airplane was spotted just south of the island, conducting operations in the South China Sea.
Sources: Military News Agency, United Daily News, ET Today
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