Taipei, July 19 (CNA) Taiwan may be able to prevent Beijing from advancing in the event of an attack on northwestern Taiwan, which could result in heavy losses for the Chinese military, a scholar said Tuesday, citing the result of a tabletop war games event in Japan.
The simulation, designed by former Japanese defense officials, focused on an attack on and blockade of Taiwan by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of China.
The scenarios also explored the battlefield management and collaborative defense mechanisms that would be put in place should a conflict break out in the Taiwan Strait.
The two-day third edition of the annual war games concluded on July 16. This was Taiwan’s first participation in the event.
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Part of the exercise simulated a PLA attack on an area between New Taipei’s Bali District and Nanliao in Hsinchu City, Su Tzu-yun (???), a scholar from a government thinktank, the Institute for National Defense and Security Research (INDSR), who participated in the event, told CNA in a phone interview.
Su added that this scenario — that closely resembles the focus of Taiwan’s annual Han Kuang military exercises — resulted in a victory for Taiwan with the Chinese special forces annihilated by the Taiwanese military, which prompted the United Nations to propose a ceasefire.
Taiwan then insisted the PLA must completely withdraw or be expelled from the area to ensure the integrity of its sovereignty.
The U.S., Japan and Taiwan reached an agreement to expel the Chinese forces from Taiwan, Su said, declining to specify exactly how and to what extent the U.S. and Japan were involved.
Meanwhile, the INDSR gave further insight into what exactly happened in the war games scenario in a Facebook post Wednesday.
The institute revealed that there were three stages altogether. In the first stage the Chinese Communist Party engaged in cognitive warfare and cyberattacks against both Taiwan and Japan, disrupting undersea cables around Taiwan and the Sakishima Islands.
Chinese fishermen also landed on the Diaoyutai Islands, which are known as the Senkaku Islands in Japan, the post explained.
As the conflict unfolded, the second stage depicted the situation evolving from a crisis in Taiwan to a threat to Japan’s security, the post added.
In the third stage, the INDSR highlighted that the PLA launched a full-scale military invasion of Taiwan, including its main island and outlying territories. The PLA also conducted missile attacks on U.S. military and Japanese Self-Defense Force bases in the area.
Echoing Su, the INDSR post said the games concluded with Taiwan successfully halting the PLA’s further advancement into its territory, following American and Japanese support.
Taiwanese participants included INSDR Chairman Huoh Shoou-yeh (???), INDSR Deputy CEO Lee Ting-sheng (???), and INDSR’s Division of Defense Strategy and Resources Director Su.
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Several current House of Representatives members and former Self-Defense Force generals from Japan, including former Defense Minister and current House of Representatives member Itsunori Onodera also took part in the simulation, the institute noted, adding that numerous scholars and retired military officials also observed events.
Meanwhile, Kevin Maher, a former head of the Office of Japan Affairs at the State Department, represented the U.S. side and acted as the country’s president during the two-day war game simulation.
Praising the simulation as a success, Su announced that the INDSR would initiate further in-depth dialogue involving the three countries in the future, but refrained from going into further detail.
