Taiwan, China ‘devastated’ in simulated war

The international community will be forced to mediate in a conflict in the Taiwan Strait between Taipei and Beijing, after both sides suffer severe damages and casualties in “an open war in 2012.”

This is Taiwan’s latest military drill scenario, featuring an attack launched by China on Taiwan five years from now, prompting Taiwan to counterattack by firing missiles at China’s coastal cities, according to military sources.

The war would negatively affect global trade and set off panic in the international community, forcing the United States and other countries to mediate between Taipei and Beijing in a bid to put an end to the open military conflict.

The Ministry of National Defense (MND) is scheduled to formally brief the press on details of the “Han Kuang 23” cyber warfare maneuvers at its routine news conference next Tuesday, the sources said.

Taiwan’s military has concluded a series of simulated cyber warfare maneuvers, in which the various branches of the armed forces conducted mock counterattacks on coastal military targets in China after a simulated surprise attack by China.

The round-the-clock, five-day computerized warfare simulation that ended Friday was part of the annual “Han Kuang” series of combined services military exercises aimed at honing combat strategies and battlefield management tactics, the sources said.

This year’s cyber war games also marked the first time that Taiwan’s armed forces have practiced counterattack strategies and skills in simulated warfare drills, the sources said.

In the mock counterattacks, Taiwan’s troops struck coastal Chinese military targets and cities with such weapons as cruise missiles and short-range ballistic missiles.

The military’s Joint Operations Command Center, the Joint Operations Training Center, and tactical command offices in various strategic military units took part in the computerized maneuvers, the sources said.

A U.S. delegation, headed by former Pacific Command Commander-in-Chief Adm. Dennis C. Blair, was on hand to observe the whole process.

According to the sources, the war game scenario was set in 2012 when China, frustrated by Taiwan’s long-term resistance against unification talks, decides to take advantage of Taiwan’s procrastination in military arsenal upgrading to accelerate its push for cross-strait unification by launching an all-out surprise attack on both Taiwan proper and its outlying Penghu Islands.

In the first three days of the simulated Chinese invasion, Taiwan incurred severe human and material losses from China’s saturated ballistic missile assault, as well as its naval and aerial bombardment.

However, Taiwan’s armed forces managed to get up to steam to stage counterattacks on China’s coastal military targets and its major cities, causing heavy human casualties and major destruction.

In the warfare scenario, the military strikes not only take a heavy toll on the economic well-being of both sides of the Taiwan Strait, but also adversely impact the global economy and cause a worldwide panic.

In the end, the United States and other Western countries jointly mediated a ceasefire.

The simulated war games didn’t cover the use of nuclear weapons or Taiwan military attacks on China’s aircraft carrier battle groups as some media outlets had speculated, the sources said.

Meanwhile, the sources said, the U.S. observation group focused in particular on assessing the Taiwan military personnel’s “combat spirit” to see whether their morale has been affected by the prolonged political infighting that has cast a long shadow over society since the transition of power between different political parties back in 2000.

In weighing the military’s “combat spirit,” the sources said, the U.S. delegation wanted to determine whether Taiwan would likely lean toward China and whether any advanced U.S.-built weaponry systems or sophisticated defense strategies would end up in the hands of the Chinese communists.

Following the completion of the cyber warfare maneuvers, the sources said, the military will start a five-day psychological warfare training program aimed at enhancing service members’ combat morale, battlefield adaptability and stress management abilities.

The “Han Kuang” series is the largest-scale combined services military exercise to be staged in Taiwan every year.

In addition to the computerized war games, it also covers live-fire military maneuvers, which will be held later this year.

China has seen self-ruled Taiwan as part of its territory since the civil war of the 1940s and sometimes threatens military force to make the island return.

Taiwan now has Patriot anti-aircraft missiles and anti-ship missiles that could strike China, which is 160 kilometers (100 miles) away, but officials say these would not go far enough in a war.

China is aiming 988 missiles at Taiwan, the Taiwan government believes, and pro-independence President Chen Shui-bian has said that by 2010 China would be capable of a large-scale invasion.

The U.S. does not recognize Taiwan, having switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979, but signed the Taiwan Relations Act, pledging to continue to maintain unofficial ties with Taiwan, and has supplied the island with defensive arms.

Independence seekers in Taiwan expect the U.S. to help defend Taiwan if the island is attacked by China. But Beijing has warned that Taiwan is part of China and the U.S. must not meddle in internal Chinese affairs.