Taiwan launches five-day combat readiness drill amid China

Taiwan launched a five-day military exercise on Monday, June 22, designed to test and improve its combat readiness amid persistent military pressure from China. The "Immediate Combat Readiness Exercise," scheduled to run through Friday, involves units from across the island's armed forces deploying to defensive positions in realistic, live-fire drills.

The Ministry of National Defense stated the exercises aim to train units at all levels to transition rapidly from peacetime to wartime operations. Officials emphasized the drills are based on actual terrain using actual equipment in real time. The exercises are part of annual joint operations training and are intended to simulate a scenario where China escalates its frequent "grey-zone" activities-such as aircraft and naval patrols-into a full-scale attack. Videos from the first day showed armored vehicles from the Army's 269th Infantry Brigade, including Clouded Leopard models, conducting patrols on city streets and highways in Taoyuan.

The drills began as China's People's Liberation Army maintained its pattern of operations near Taiwan. Taiwan's defense ministry reported that from Sunday into Monday morning, 23 Chinese aircraft,...