Taiwan Military Scores First Victory Over Chinese Forces in Wargame: "Preserving Strength Before Large-Scale Counterattack"

Taiwanese, 70% Negative Evaluation of China... Highest Level Ever Recorded

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Suhwan] Amid rising tensions between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait (China and Taiwan) due to a series of military demonstrations by China, it has been revealed that Taiwan effectively repelled a Chinese invasion in a self-conducted "wargame (computer simulation)."

Local media such as Apple Daily and United Daily News reported on the 18th that "the Taiwanese military succeeded in repelling China's initial attack during the command post exercise (CPX) wargame conducted as part of the recent annual 'Han Kuang' exercise."

This is the first time that the Taiwanese military has repelled a large-scale Chinese attack in a wargame simulating a Chinese invasion scenario.

Taiwanese media reported that China failed in its attack on Taiwan and suffered significant troop losses, marking a major victory for the Taiwanese military.

The Taiwanese military stated that in the wargame, it succeeded in preserving combat power through optimized troop movements against China's initial attack. Apple Daily reported that Taiwan then launched a large-scale counterattack using warships, submarines, and fighter jets, striking military airfields and ports where Chinese ground forces had gathered.

The Taiwanese military is understood to have gained an advantage in the battle by attacking Chinese southeastern coastal missile bases and military airfields with Wan Chien missiles and Harpoon anti-ship missiles for coastal defense.

In this wargame, the Chinese side deployed two aircraft carriers, the Liaoning and Shandong, the Type 075 amphibious assault ship called the "helicopter carrier" Hainan, Dongfeng-15 missiles with a range of 600?900 km, Dongfeng-16 missiles with a maximum range of 1000 km, and Wei's multiple rocket launchers with a range of 140 km in a simulated scenario.

Colonel Su Shun-yuan, spokesperson for the Taiwanese Ministry of National Defense, evaluated the wargame results as significant in securing important reference data for actual troop mobilization exercises. However, he expressed a cautious stance, stating that there was no clear winner or loser.

Colonel Su added that the Taiwanese military will continuously strengthen its capabilities to maintain national security.

Earlier, the Taiwanese military conducted its longest-ever eight-day command post exercise from April 23 this year.

Meanwhile, United Daily News reported that in this year's cross-strait relations survey, 70% of Taiwanese expressed negative views toward the Chinese government, marking the highest level of anti-China sentiment ever recorded.

This is the highest figure in 11 years since the survey began in 2010.

Taiwanese experts analyzed that the lack of transparency in China's COVID-19 information, China's military aircraft demonstrations, and political changes in Hong Kong are the underlying reasons.

The survey also showed that 51% of Taiwanese favored maintaining the status quo forever regarding Taiwan's independence and unification, surpassing half of the respondents.