Taiwan mobilizes 20,000 reservists in drills to deter Chinese invasion

Taiwan's largest annual exercise tests whether the island can hold out against a Chinese assault without U.S. troops.

Taiwan kicked off 10 days of military and civil defense exercises Wednesday, mobilizing 20,000 reserve troops and testing asymmetric tactics meant to convince Beijing that an invasion isn't worth the cost even if U.S. forces don't come to the island's aid.

"Our core belief and ultimate operational goal are to ensure their full-scale invasion fails," Defense Minister Wellington Koo told reporters as drills began across the island.

The Han Kuang exercise, running through Aug. 14, comes a day after China's 20th joint combat readiness patrol of 2026, which deployed 21 warplanes and nine warships around Taiwan, according to the island's Ministry of National Defense. Taiwan's parliament approved a $24.8 billion supplementary defense budget, short of President Lai Ching-te's $40 billion request, while a separate $14 billion U.S. arms sale package remains held up in Washington.

The drills test whether Taiwan can sustain 24-hour defense operations, survive a naval blockade and keep its economy running, including the first-ever slowdown of mobile internet in Hsinchu, home to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the world's largest contract chipmaker.

The exercise's centerpiece is the largest reserve mobilization in Taiwan's history — more than 5,000 service members across two brigades, up from one brigade of more than 3,000 last year. Reservists in Taipei practiced loading mortars and handling U.S.-supplied M4A1 rifles at a high school, while navy vessels including a submarine deployed off southern Taiwan and Black Hawk helicopters flew over Kaohsiung. Beijing has ramped up its pressure campaign in recent years, sending aircraft and warships near the island almost daily.

Drone tactics borrowed from Ukraine and Iran

Taiwan's newly established Littoral Operations Command makes its Han Kuang debut this year, demonstrating its mission to keep Chinese forces off the coast using antiship missiles, sea mines and drones. Military officials said the island has drawn lessons from Ukraine's fight against Russia and from Iran's recent conflict about using drones as cost-effective defensive weapons. One strategy involves using drones to distract China's expensive precision weaponry, creating gaps for Taiwan's missiles to strike warships.

The exercise also tests a decentralized command structure so soldiers can operate during a communications blackout, including U.S.-inspired "backbriefs" where subordinates repeat instructions back to commanders. "Tools like backbriefs allow subordinates to develop the necessary warfighting skills to succeed in that environment," said Mark Montgomery, senior director at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington-based think tank.

Civilian resilience and the TSMC test

Urban resilience drills will slow mobile internet for 30 minutes in parts of the island including Hsinchu, the tech hub where TSMC operates its most advanced fabs. The chipmaker said it doesn't expect an impact on its operations. The drill reflects Taiwan's reliance on subsea cables for connectivity and its exposure to a potential cyber-enabled economic warfare campaign, Montgomery said.

Taiwan's government has pledged to raise defense spending to 5 percent of gross domestic product by 2030 under U.S. pressure, but opposition parties that control parliament cut a $25 billion special defense budget by a third in May, stripping about $15 billion the government sought for domestic drone procurement.

The stakes extend beyond the island. Taiwan produces more than 60 percent of the world's advanced semiconductors and nearly all of the most advanced chips used in AI, making any disruption to its supply chain a global economic event. President Trump's comment that he wasn't inclined "to travel 9,500 miles to fight a war" has reinforced the view in Taipei that the island must be able to fight on its own.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.