Taiwan To Use Ukraine Conflict Plot In Upcoming Military Exercise - Reports

Sumaira FH Published April 26, 2022 | 07:00 PM

BEIJING (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 26th April, 2022) The Taiwanese armed forces will take into account the military experience of Ukraine during the upcoming 38th edition of annual Han Kuang military exercise, local media reported on Tuesday, citing the Taiwanese defense ministry.

The drills will practice hypothetical warfare by the Chinese army against Taiwan based on the experience of hostilities between Russia and Ukraine, the ministry was cited as saying by the Focus Taiwan news agency.

The exercise will be held in two phases in May and July, according to the report.

The Han Kuang military exercise has been taking place since 1984 at sea, in the air and on land.

Official relations between Beijing and Taipei broke down in 1949 after the Kuomintang forces led by Chiang Kai-shek, defeated by the Chinese Communist Party in the civil war, moved to Taiwan. business and informal contacts between the island and mainland China resumed in the late 1980s. Since the early 1990s, the two sides maintain contacts through nongovernmental organizations, including Beijing's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait and Taipei's Straits Exchange Foundation.

In March, Taiwanese Defense Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng said that a war between China and Taiwan would result in a "miserable victory" regardless of who wins, and added that no one wants such a war.

At the same time, Chinese Ministry of National Defense spokesperson Wu Qian said that China is firmly committed to peaceful reunification with Taiwan but will never tolerate "foreign interference" in this issue. He reiterated Beijing's commitment to the One-China policy.

On February 24, Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine after the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk appealed for help in defending themselves from intensifying attacks by Ukrainian troops. Russia said that the aim of the special operation is to demilitarize and "denazify" Ukraine and that it is targeting military infrastructure only.