Taiwan’s annual military drill moves out of the shadows — and into everyday life

This year, the drills feel like something else entirely: They are twice as long, larger than ever in scale and far more visible in everyday life.

A CM-32 Clouded Leopard vehicle near the Port of Taipei as part of the annual Han Kuang military exercises. Picture: Cheng Yu-chen / AFP

In the stillness of a small village on the outskirts of this central Taiwanese city, two CM-34 “Clouded Leopard” armoured vehicles rumbled down narrow country lanes, unloading soldiers tasked with countering a simulated Chinese landing force pushing inland.

On the other side of town, two CM-11 “Brave Tiger” battle tanks concealed behind a community centre fired mock rounds at a rice paddy, the blasts echoing through the village.

In years past, Taiwan’s annual Han Kuang exercises have been staged on military bases, along desolate coastlines and generally out of sight for the average resident of Taiwan, a democratically self-governed island at the centre of regional tensions in the Asia-Pacific.

This year, the drills feel like something else entirely: They are twice as long, larger than ever in scale and far more visible in everyday life, spilling into the parking area outside a Costco, onto subway cars zipping underneath the capital city of Taipei and into viral social-media posts. In one case, a tank inadvertently sideswiped a passing car. In another, several tanks ended up outside the American big-box retailer’s store in the southern city of Tainan.

Soldier build up blocks on a bridge connecting New Taipei with Taiwan's capital Taipei during the annual military exercise. Picture: I-Hwa Cheng / AFP

Under President Lai Ching-te, who took office last year, Taiwan’s government has shed its cautiousness about spooking global investors, and its own public, with warnings of a Chinese invasion that could wreak havoc on this island of 23 million people.

Instead, this year’s 10-day-long edition of the Han Kuang drills — stretching from Taipei’s bustling subway stations to quaint villages deep in Taiwan’s interior — was designed to send a message to Washington: Taiwan is ready to fight on its own, and if you send us weapons, we will quickly integrate them into our defences.

In addition to serving as a dry run for a feared Chinese landing, the drills, which end Friday, are doubling as an open-air showcase for US military hardware, which Taiwan has spent dearly to procure — and which it is eager to flaunt in a show to the Trump administration of its willingness to buy American goods and defend itself.

In the heart of Taipei, US-supplied Patriot missile batteries were put into place at a busy riverside park popular with joggers and music festival organisers, set against the backdrop of the Taipei 101 skyscraper, once the world’s tallest building.

This year’s drills showcased Patriot missile systems at a park in Taipei and a Himars rocket launcher near a playground in Taichung. Picture: Annabelle Chih/Getty Images

On Saturday, the Taiwanese military showed off newly commissioned Himars systems, the US-built multiple rocket launchers deployed to devastating effect by Ukraine. In a high-profile public debut, one week after the hardware entered service in Taiwan, troops conducted exercises designed to show it off, including loading mock rounds and engaging in concealment manoeuvres.

These weren’t conducted in out-of-the-way locales. One of the Himars systems was set up in a suburban park, where families were strolling by and taking photos, while another was placed in a nearby open-air parking garage.

During a midnight drill on Tuesday, soldiers used Hesco bastions — a US-developed barrier system meant to replace traditional sandbags — to block off a major bridge running through the centre of Taipei.

As morning dawned, a TOW-2B missile launcher mounted on a Humvee made a rare public appearance during a drill on the outskirts of the capital, near a major commercial port that faces the Chinese mainland from across the Taiwan Strait. The antitank missiles, another high-price American purchase, arrived in Taiwan earlier this year.

Taiwan is still waiting for a package of FIM-92 Stinger missiles approved for sale during the Obama administration. A report by Taiwan’s army said it was expecting the first batch later this year.

That didn’t stop Taiwanese officials from distributing photos this week of Defence Minister Wellington Koo posing with a missile launcher. The missile launcher in question isn’t one of those ordered by Taiwan more than a decade ago, but rather one that was part of a recent US aid package.

“With the US questioning our defence budget, these drills are also a way to show we have the will to defend ourselves,” said Lin Ying-yu, associate professor at Taiwan’s Tamkang University.

Taiwan's President William Lai Ching-te in military uniform with a badge for the annual Han Kuang military exercise. Picture: Taiwan Presidential Office via AP

To his own public, President Lai’s message is equally clear: The threat from China is real.

Before Tuesday morning’s drill on the outskirts of Taipei, a city government loudspeaker blared a message in both Mandarin and Taiwanese: “Please don’t panic if you hear gunfire,” a male voice said.

Moments later, another male voice came from a military broadcasting vehicle, part of the island’s psychological warfare unit, identified himself as a battalion commander before delivering a message for soldiers taking part in the exercise.

“We’re the ones holding the front line. If we fall, it’s our families and friends behind us who’ll take the bullets,” the man said. “Rather than hoping the US or others will come to our aid, it’s better to believe that men must stand on their own.”

Ahead of the annual drills, Taiwan military officials were explicit in saying they expect military forces to operate in areas closely connected to everyday civilian life.

“It’s also possible that this could cause some inconvenience, like hearing the rumbling of tanks moving through the streets late at night,” Defence Ministry spokesman Lt. Gen. Sun Li-fang told reporters ahead of the exercises. “For the sake of developing a more mature and complete combat capability, this is a price we have to pay.”

Personnel on board an M109 assault boat patrol in the harbour during a naval mine-laying drill. Picture: I-Hwa Cheng / AFP

Chen Shun-e, 82, didn’t expect to encounter soldiers when taking her usual morning walk at a park in central Taiwan on Tuesday. She said she was surprised to see so many troops, but laughed it off, saying she didn’t really understand the geopolitical situation.

“It’s just like firecrackers — nothing to worry about,” she said of the mock gunfire sounds. “It’s very good that they’re out training.”

The public visibility of this year’s drills — which have filled Instagram feeds across the island with photos of tanks and missile launchers — has even prompted some concern that Taiwan’s commitments to democracy and transparency have made it too easy for China’s military to probe its defence planning and collect intelligence from open sources.

“I’d suggest keeping those photos to yourself instead of posting them. Anything you share could be collected and analysed by the other side,” one user wrote in response to a photo posted on Meta’s Threads platform, showing a Patriot missile system in a park, set against Taipei’s skyline.

Wall Street Journal