Taiwan beefs up civil, military defense in drills

Taiwan is conducting its largest-ever annual military preparedness drills alongside extensive civil defense exercises, aimed at mobilizing a whole-of-society response in the event of conflict with China. Spanning from August 5 to 14, the drills feature several firsts, including the simulation of the dispersal of defense production and the throttling of the island's mobile network to demonstrate the impact of internet service disruption.

Inspired by war conditions in Ukraine, Taiwan is also accelerating efforts to create a "hellscape" of drones and unmanned boats in the Taiwan Strait, reflecting its consideration of a 16% defense spending increase. However, an expert argues that focusing too much on military deterrence overlooks the vector of conflict most likely to define a cross-strait crisis: civil defense.

Brief written by urgent.news from Semafor's own syndicated text. Machine-written — it may contain errors, so check the original before relying on it.