Nine retired generals from Taiwan, Japan and the US have been invited to participate in a tabletop exercise hosted by the Taipei School of Economics and Political Science Foundation tomorrow and Wednesday that simulates a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan in 2030, the foundation said yesterday.
The five retired Taiwanese generals would include retired admiral Lee Hsi-min (李喜明), joined by retired US Navy admiral Michael Mullen and former chief of staff of the Japan Self-Defense Forces general Shigeru Iwasaki, it said.
The simulation aims to offer strategic insights into regional security and peace in the Taiwan Strait, it added.
Photo: Military News Agency, Reuters and AFP
Foundation chair Huang Huang-hsiung (黃煌雄) and Lee, who serves as executive director of the Center for Peace and Security, believe that Taiwan must adopt a rigorous approach as cross-strait tensions and the possibility of a military conflict increase, the foundation said.
Through military simulations, they aim to assess the security of the western Pacific, explore potential courses of military action China might take and examine Taiwan’s response strategies, it said.
The simulations would be held tomorrow and Wednesday at the Center for Public and Business Administration Education at National Chengchi University in Taipei.
The simulations would examine the feasibility of Taiwan’s military strategy in response to a potential Chinese armed attack in 2030, assuming all currently planned military preparations are in place, the foundation said.
The exercise aims to identify critical defense issues that Taiwan needs to bolster, providing valuable insights for the government, it said.
In addition to Lee, the Taiwanese participating include former deputy ministers of national defense Chang Guan-chung (張冠群) and Hsu Yen-pu (徐衍璞), former army commander Hu Cheng-fu (胡鎮埔) and former air force general Liao Jung-hsin (廖榮鑫).
Former commander of US Pacific forces Dennis Blair and former Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force chief of staff admiral Tomohisa Takei are also taking part.
The simulations would be conducted as tabletop exercises with five groups: a control group, and separate groups representing Taiwan, China, the US and Japan, the foundation said.
Under the control group’s leadership, various scenarios involving Chinese harassment or invasion would be played out to evaluate the Taiwan group’s response, and how the US and Japan groups could assist, it said.
The simulations were designed by the Council on Strategic and Wargaming Strategies, and would be overseen by the control group, led by Lee and council director-general Huang Chieh-cheng (黃介正), it said.
The exercises would have four stages, beginning with Chinese “gray zone” harassment, before progressing to assaults on outlying islands and finally a full-scale invasion, it said.
Following the exercises, there would be a review and international news conference, it added.
There would also be an advisory group consisting of former premiers, defense ministers, chiefs of staff and National Security Council officials, the foundation said.
There are also plans to invite senior members of domestic media to observe, as well as academics and experts from institutions focused on strategic studies to participate in the event, it said.
This is the first operational-level military simulation on a potential cross-strait conflict organized by a civilian organization in Taiwan and the highest-level simulation to date involving participants with military backgrounds, it said.
BUILDUP: US General Dan Caine said Chinese military maneuvers are not routine exercises, but instead are ‘rehearsals for a forced unification’ with Taiwan China poses an increasingly aggressive threat to the US and deterring Beijing is the Pentagon’s top regional priority amid its rapid military buildup and invasion drills near Taiwan, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday. “Our pacing threat is communist China,” Hegseth told the US House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense during an oversight hearing with US General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “Beijing is preparing for war in the Indo-Pacific as part of its broader strategy to dominate that region and then the world,” Hegseth said, adding that if it succeeds, it could derail
CHIP WAR: The new restrictions are expected to cut off China’s access to Taiwan’s technologies, materials and equipment essential to building AI semiconductors Taiwan has blacklisted Huawei Technologies Co (華為) and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯), dealing another major blow to the two companies spearheading China’s efforts to develop cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) chip technologies. The Ministry of Economic Affairs’ International Trade Administration has included Huawei, SMIC and several of their subsidiaries in an update of its so-called strategic high-tech commodities entity list, the latest version on its Web site showed on Saturday. It did not publicly announce the change. Other entities on the list include organizations such as the Taliban and al-Qaeda, as well as companies in China, Iran and elsewhere. Local companies need
CRITICISM: It is generally accepted that the Straits Forum is a CCP ‘united front’ platform, and anyone attending should maintain Taiwan’s dignity, the council said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it deeply regrets that former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) echoed the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “one China” principle and “united front” tactics by telling the Straits Forum that Taiwanese yearn for both sides of the Taiwan Strait to move toward “peace” and “integration.” The 17th annual Straits Forum yesterday opened in Xiamen, China, and while the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) local government heads were absent for the first time in 17 years, Ma attended the forum as “former KMT chairperson” and met with Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Wang Huning (王滬寧). Wang
CROSS-STRAIT: The MAC said it barred the Chinese officials from attending an event, because they failed to provide guarantees that Taiwan would be treated with respect The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Friday night defended its decision to bar Chinese officials and tourism representatives from attending a tourism event in Taipei next month, citing the unsafe conditions for Taiwanese in China. The Taipei International Summer Travel Expo, organized by the Taiwan Tourism Exchange Association, is to run from July 18 to 21. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian (朱鳳蓮) on Friday said that representatives from China’s travel industry were excluded from the expo. The Democratic Progressive Party government is obstructing cross-strait tourism exchange in a vain attempt to ignore the mainstream support for peaceful development