This year's 10-day live-fire Han Kuang drills are the longest yet and follow the delivery of a range of new weaponry from tanks to waterborne drones. The drills in Taiwan come as regional tensions and harassment by China and its People's Liberation Army (PLA) are increasing.
China claims Taiwan as its territory to be annexed by force if necessary, while the vast majority of Taiwanese wish to become fully independent or retain their current status of de facto independence.
The drills began on Wednesday with exercises to counter the actions of Chinese Coast Guard and maritime militia ships that have been harassing Taiwanese ships around offshore island groups close to the Chinese coast, the Defence Ministry said.
Concerns are that China could launch an invasion under the guise of petty harassment, and the drills will include fortifying ports and possible Chinese landing points on an island lying 160km off the Chinese coast.
The drills will later focus on simulated anti-landing exercises, with regular forces from all the services backed up by 22,000 reservists, the ministry said. Exercises will continue around the clock for 10 days under realistic conditions taking into account all possibilities, the ministry said, in a possible attempt to counter criticism that past exercises have veered on the performative.
Troops in the drills will use Abrams M1A2T tanks and the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System acquired from the US, Taiwan's closest partner and source of defensive arms despite the sides not having diplomatic ties at Beijing's insistence.
China responded to the exercises' announcement in a typically acerbic fashion.
"The Han Guang exercise is nothing but a bluffing and self-deceiving trick by the DPP authorities, attempting to bind the Taiwanese people to the Taiwan independence cart and harm Taiwan for the selfish interests of one party," Chinese Defence Ministry spokesperson Col. Jiang Bing said at a news conference on Tuesday.
The DPP stands for Taiwan's independence-leading ruling Democratic Progressive Party and Jiang was using the mainland Chinese romanisation of the games.
"No matter how they perform or what weapons they use, they cannot resist the PLA's anti-independence sword and the historical trend of the motherland's inevitable reunification," Jiang said.
China appears also to have taken actions to disrupt preparations for the drills, with the Taiwanese Defence Ministry saying PLA planes and ships on Tuesday "conducted harassment operations around Taiwan's air and sea domains under the pretext of a so-called 'joint combat readiness patrol.'"
