Reflecting On The Russia-Ukraine Conflict: Taiwan Holds The Biggest Military Drill Of The Year, Simulating China's Invasion

Presiden Tsai Ing-wen saat meninjau militernya. (Wikimedia Commons/Republic of China Presidential Government Website Information Release)

JAKARTA - Taiwan will draw on lessons from the war in Ukraine in its main military drills this year, focusing on asymmetric and cognitive warfare and using reserves when training against Chinese attacks, a top officer said Wednesday.

Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory, has raised its level of vigilance since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, wary of Beijing making a similar move against them, although it has reported no sign of this imminent.

What lessons can be learned from the war has been widely debated in Taiwan, and discussed with the United States, according to Taiwan's defense minister.

Lin Wen-huang, head of Taiwan's Defense Ministry's joint operations department, said this year's Han Kuang exercise, which simulates a Chinese invasion and is Taiwan's largest annual war game, will "take experience" from the Ukraine war.

"Of course, we will keep a close watch on the Russo-Ukrainian war and the Chinese Communist military movements, and will carry out drills," he told reporters.

"Taking into account the lessons of the Russo-Ukrainian war, the military will continue to advance to increase the use of asymmetric warfare, cognitive warfare, information and electronic warfare operations, and the use of the nation's reserves and full power," he said.

Illustration of Taiwan's special forces training. (Wikimedia Commons/總統府)

Taiwan itself is known to have reformed its reserve forces, to make them more effective in combat, a task given more urgency by the Ukraine war.

It is known that Russia sent tens of thousands of troops to Ukraine on February 24 in what it called a "special operation" to reduce its military capabilities and root out what it called dangerous nationalists.

Ukrainian troops have put up a tough fight and the West has imposed sweeping sanctions on Russia in a bid to force it to withdraw.

Cognitive warfare refers to how information can affect morale, something Taiwan says it has already faced from China. Meanwhile, asymmetric warfare is about deploying highly mobile and sometimes low-tech weapons that are difficult to destroy, but can deliver precision strikes.

The United States, Taipei's most important international backer, and arms supplier, has also witnessed the strategic impact for Taiwan of the Ukraine war, and is considering how the island should prepare for an invasion by China.

Washington has helped train Taiwanese military personnel, although it is rarely publicized. A small number of US troops are in Taiwan to train with the Taiwanese army, President Tsai Ing-wen said in an interview with CNN in October.

Meanwhile, China has rejected any comparisons between Ukraine and Taiwan, saying Taiwan is part of China and not an independent country. However, China has stepped up its military pressure on Taiwan over the past two years.

Taiwan rejects China's claim to sovereignty and says only the island's residents can decide their future.