Head of Taiwan’s Military Says Han Kuang Drills Will Be More Realistic - TaiwanPlus News

Taiwan's chief of the General Staff, Mei Jia SU, has said he wants this year's largest military exercise to be as realistic as possible, part of preparing Taiwan to be ready for war. May was being questioned by lawmakers, the first time a military chief of staff has appeared at the legislature in 25 years. Louise Watt is live for us in Taipei. Louise, what exactly has May said, Leslie? He's basically, he's basically signaled a fundamental shift, shift in the way the military will operate, empowering troops on the ground to make decisions rather than waiting for commands from higher ups. Now, he was talking to lawmakers about the Han Guang exercises. They're Taiwan's largest war games, and they've been going on for 40 years. But they've come in for criticism in recent years for being too scripted. So this time around they're going to. The military is trying to make them as realistic as possible. So that means less scripted and also decentralisation of orders. Now what does this mean? It means that troops will be empowered to react and they will not have to wait for orders from higher up. And often, if you think about it, when in wartime, communications can go from your central base. And so therefore this is about getting troops as combat ready as possible. And May told lawmakers today he wants this decentralisation of orders to be adopted by all units at appropriate times. And why is Taiwan doing these exercises while injecting a dose of reality into all of this is actions by China today, as May was being questioned by lawmakers, Taiwan's defence ministry said it had spotted 26 Chinese planes near Taiwan. They said China had been carrying out a joint combat readiness patrol with planes. But not just planes, warships as well. So it's a reminder of the military threat that Taiwan faces. Louise, there's been some controversy over May's appearance in the legislature. Why yes, it's unusual to see a general chief of staff being grilled by lawmakers. Normally it's the defence minister who that falls to, but what's happened is there have actually been some new reforms that have started today that give lawmakers more power to question anyone they like. Well, actually this is not related to that. The Foreign Affairs and Defence Affairs Committee, they say they invited me to give evidence because the new defence minister has handed over some powers of responsibility for military orders and administration to the chief of staff. So they say he was the man really that they wanted an explanation from. But as you say, Leslie, this has been controversial. Some people think it's inappropriate that the head of the military has been grilled by lawmakers. A former Chief of the General Staff, Admiral Lee Lee Siming, he actually said that the legislature is concerned with defence policies and should not be interfering with the training and command of the troops. He said May shouldn't be wasting his time with politics. But As for May himself, before he went in to be questioned, he told reporters if his evidence helps the public to better understand the military and get behind the military, then he's all for it.