Han Kuang exercises to exclude live-fire drill this year

Taipei--The Han Kuang (??) military exercise this year will be conducted through computer-simulated war games without live-fire drills, according to the Ministry of National Defense (MND) on Sunday.

The change was made in response to President Tsai Ing-wen's (???) request in August last year that Taiwan come up with a "new military strategy, aimed at charting a new direction and changing the culture of Taiwan's armed forces."

In response, the MND said this year's exercises will only include computer-simulated war games, while a live-fire drill is to be pushed back to 2018.

The new military strategy was drafted in January, the defense ministry said, adding that it expects the change to be officially announced in March as part of its quadrennial defense review, or QDR.

According to the National Defense Act, the ministry is required to publish a defense review once every four years detailing the status of the military and national security in Taiwan. The last QDR was published in 2013.

The annual Han Kuang exercises are usually divided into two phases, first a command post exercise with computer-simulated war games, followed by live-fire drills.

The exercises are Taiwan's most important annual war games involving all three branches of the military -- Army, Navy and Air Force -- and are conducted to test their joint response to simulated threats from China.

The 33rd Han Kuang exercises featuring computer-simulated war games are expected to be held later in May, the MND said.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel