Taiwan began preparations this week for its annual Han Kuang military exercise in response to what its government describes as escalating military pressure from China. The war games—scheduled to last 10 days and nine nights from July 9—are to be the largest ever across Taiwan proper and its outlying islands, officials said. More than 22,000 reservists are due to be mobilized and the exercise is scheduled to run concurrently with island-wide civil defense drills. The Han Kuang exercise will be held against the backdrop of an increased risk of conflict across the Taiwan Strait, a flash point that could drag the United States and China into a major war over Taiwan’s future. China claims Taiwan as its own despite Taipei’s objections. The United States does not recognize Taiwan’s statehood but has political and economic stakes in a peaceful resolution to the decades-long dispute, and is obliged by U.S. law to help Taipei arm itself against a possible attack. The scale and scope of this year’s drills reflect the island’s growing apprehension, but also its desire to apply lessons learned from recent conflicts in Europe and the Middle East, for example, about asymmetric weapons systems and territorial defense. Taiwan’s Defense Ministry is calling up an additional 7,000 reservists to join this year’s Han Kuang exercise, said Taipei defense chief Wellington Koo. One of the objectives is to assess how long it would take to ensure reservists are combat ready in wartime, Koo said.

Full report : Taiwan Readies Soldiers, Civilians for Largest China Invasion Drills.