Annual emergency drills have for the first time included a military strike on Taipei, a sign of worsening cross-strait relations
n a Thursday afternoon in Taipei, it was 26 August 2025 and China’s military had just fired a missile into the city, hitting an apartment block. Chinese navy ships had massed in theRescue squads and paramedics raced around blocked off sites in the city’s business district. Cherrypickers and cranes plucked rookie firefighters – dressed as injured civilians – from the rooftop of a fake demolished building and half-crushed buses.
The drills, which are being held weekly across Taiwan’s major cities in May and June, are a sign that the Taiwan authorities realise they need to improve civil defence readiness, as the threat fromBeijing claims Taiwan as a province of China, and intends to annex it. It wants to resolve this peacefully through Taiwan’s surrender but hasn’t ruled out using force, which would require a full-scale invasion and urban warfare.
A blockade of Taiwan, which could cripple cities, cut off global trade, communication, utilities and other essential supplies, is also now being war gamed. A recent analysis by the CSIS warned the island would not be able to receive aid like Ukraine. “It is imperative that energy resilience, which includes securing ample generator supplies, is a nationwide effort,” said Marcin Jerzewski, a research fellow at thinktank NextGen Taiwan.
Some in Taipei are attending talks on disaster and conflict preparedness by Tobie, a South African who has lived in Taiwan for 25 years and who has written a book on the topic.
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