Taiwan Conducts Rare Live-Fire Tank Drills at Night on Penghu

TaiwanPlus News

Taiwan's military has conducted a rare nighttime tank drill on the outlying islands of Penghu. Although this exercise is routine, it comes amid heightened military activity in the Taiwan Strait.

Transcript

00:00A show of force on Taiwan's Penghu Islands.

00:07Taiwan's military here is conducting live-fire exercises using recently upgraded tanks and

00:13artillery to practice defending the coastline against enemy ships and drones.

00:19This exercise is usually carried out early in the morning, but for the first time the

00:23military is switching it up, conducting this drill closer to midnight and making it harder

00:28to hit targets.

00:45Recently military activity in the Taiwan Strait has surged, with Beijing conducting some of

00:50its largest military exercises around Taiwan, simulating a blockade of the country.

00:56And just a few kilometers away, Taiwan's military has also been busy.

01:01For the past few days, the skies and seas around Penghu have been lit up with hundreds

01:05of rounds of tank and artillery fire.

01:08Taiwan says that this show is a demonstration of its military capabilities, demonstrating

01:12just how difficult it is to attack the country.

01:15Sitting in the middle of the Taiwan Strait, Taiwan's Penghu islands are critical for the

01:19country's defense against China, which is threatening to bring Taiwan under its control

01:23by force.

01:25Analysts say these drills in the islands themselves play a big role in testing how

01:29quickly Taiwan's military can mobilize and respond to any threat.

01:33The Penghu islands, I think, will provide a couple of different benefits to Taiwan.

01:38One is forward ISR, intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance.

01:42The more time that the Taiwanese military forces have to see what the Chinese forces

01:48are doing, the easier it is for them to respond.

01:51Taiwan says for the rest of October, all branches of the military will be conducting

01:55exercises.

01:56But for the soldiers on the islands closer to China, the pressure of these drills might

02:00just feel a bit more real, as it could someday be on the front line of a conflict.

02:05Fu Huahong in Hameokan in Penghu for Taiwan Plus.

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