Taipei: Taiwan's military on Monday launched a five-day "Immediate Combat Readiness Exercise" across the country to ensure that its troops are prepared to respond swiftly should China escalate its gray-zone activities into a full-scale military attack. The exercise, which runs from Monday through Friday, is intended to help military units at all levels strengthen their ability to transition more quickly from peacetime to wartime operations, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said in a press release issued Sunday.According to Focus Taiwan, at the start of the drills Monday morning, combat units immediately began moving to designated defensive positions across the country in preparation for repelling invading enemy forces. In northern Taiwan, several CM32, CM33, and CM34 "Clouded Leopard" eight-wheeled armored vehicles, as well as a military Field Information Communications System (FICS) vehicle, were seen traveling along Provincial Highway 31 near Qingpu in Taoyuan.Su Tzu-yun, a research fellow at Taiw an's government-funded Institute for National Defense and Security Research, told CNA that a defensive line in the Qingpu area is critical to the defense of northern Taiwan and preventing enemy forces from advancing into the Greater Taipei area, where key political and economic centers are located. Qingpu, which lies on the border between Taoyuan's Zhongli and Dayuan districts, is near Taoyuan High Speed Rail Station, the Taoyuan Airport MRT, National Freeway No. 2 and Provincial Highway 31, he noted.That makes Qingpu a major strategic location and transportation hub in northern Taiwan, Su said, noting that it is also near the city's Guanyin, Dayuan, and Luzhu districts and close to Zhuwei Fishing Port -- all considered potential landing sites for invading Chinese forces. In light of those factors, military vehicles from the 269th Mechanized Infantry Brigade were conducting combat-readiness drills in the area on Monday, rehearsing the best defensive positions, Su said.The "Immediate Combat Readiness Exerc ise" was first launched in March 2025. At the time, Defense Minister Wellington Koo said the drills were introduced to counter the possibility of an escalation of the increasingly frequent gray-zone harassment and threats by the Chinese military. Gray-zone activities are actions involving ambiguous or nontraditional methods aimed at achieving strategic objectives without overtly crossing the threshold into open conflict.