Taiwanese President Throws Psywar Ahead Of Annual War Exercises: Small Military Can Beat Bigger Ones

Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te/Wikimedia Commons/Presidential Office Taipei

JAKARTA - Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te talks about many examples in history where smaller militaries can beat bigger opponents.

This was conveyed by Lai to air force officers when giving encouragement ahead of the annual war games held later this month.

China, which views democratically-ruled Taiwan as its territory, has been conducting routine exercises around the island for four years to pressure Taipei into accepting Beijing's claim to sovereignty, despite strong objections from Taiwan.

Taiwan's armed forces are smaller than the Chinese armed forces.

But Taiwan has modernized its military not only with new equipment such as submarines but also fighting for the idea of an asymmetric war, to make its troops more mobile and difficult to attack, for example with missiles and drones mounted on vehicles.

Lai, wearing a disguised military uniform and answering questions in front of Taiwan-made Indigenous Ching-coo Defense Fighters at air bases in central Taiwan, said the military force was not a simple mathematical question of summation and reduction.

"The number of equipment is indeed important, but it cannot represent the military power of a country," Lai said, in a video recording released by his office.

"In history, there are many cases where a handful of people have won over many people, and there are many ways to win the hearts of old enemies with new thoughts," he added.

A senior Taiwanese official last month said Han Kuang's annual drills would be as close to actual fighting as possible, no longer just a show to score points but aimed at simulating real fighting given China's rapidly escalating threat of enemies.

Taiwan started Han Kuang's five-day exercise on July 22, along with Wan An's civil defense exercises in which cities were temporarily closed during airstrike simulations.

Lai rejected Beijing's claim to sovereignty and said only the Taiwanese could determine their future. He has repeatedly offered negotiations but was rejected by China.

"The peace we want is peace with a solid foundation, true peace that must be built with our own strength," Lai said.

China previously said it was in vain for Taiwan to think they could use weapons to prevent'reunification'.