# REPORT: Five days of exercises: Taiwan trains for invasion

> From June 22 to 26, 2026, Taiwan's armed forces conducted an exercise dubbed "Immediate Combat Readiness" — five days of intense training designed to simulate, as faithfully as possible, the transition from peacetime to wartime under duress. This was not an ordinary showcase exercise or a demonstration. It was something far more serious, far more urgent, and all the more signif

- Author: Maxime Marquette
- Publisher: MadMax (https://mad-max.co)
- Section: Reportage
- Published: 2026-06-28
- Canonical URL: https://mad-max.co/en/article/reportage-cinq-jours-d-exercices-taiwan-s-entraine-a-l-invasion

## Introduction: the island learning to live on the edge of the abyss

### Five days to prepare for what should never happen

From **June 22 to 26, 2026**, Taiwan's armed forces conducted an exercise dubbed "Immediate Combat Readiness" — five days of intense training designed to simulate, as faithfully as possible, the transition from peacetime to wartime under duress. This was not an ordinary showcase exercise or a demonstration. It was something far more serious, far more urgent, and all the more significant in the context of the ongoing tensions with **China**.

Taiwan's **Ministry of National Defense** described the exercises within a "real time, real troops, real equipment" framework — meaning actual deployments with operational hardware, orders issued in real time, and responses required within extremely compressed timeframes. The goal: to verify that every unit, every commander, every soldier can shift from standby to combat footing without the weeks of advance preparation that characterized older exercises.

### A threat context that demands this format

This type of "surprise" exercise already existed in **2025**, but took on a new dimension in **2026**, in a context where the **People's Liberation Army (PLA)** had significantly intensified its military presence around the island. In **May 2026** alone, the **PLA** conducted **4 "combat readiness" patrols** and recorded **274 air sorties** around **Taiwan**, with an **ADIZ** penetration rate of **79%**. The frequency and intensity of these activities had rendered traditional training formats inadequate for the operational reality.

Defense Minister **Wellington Koo** stated it plainly before parliament on **June 24**: "This is about building the speed we assess as necessary to shift from peacetime to wartime footing." It is an admission of brutal lucidity — and admirable institutional modesty. **Taiwan** acknowledges it was not ready. And it is doing what it takes to become so.

*There is something striking about this image: a democratic island of 23 million people methodically training to survive an invasion it hopes never to face. This is the very definition of the paradox of peace through preparation for war.*

## The revolutionary exercise format: surprise as method

### Gone: weeks of rehearsal

Traditionally, Taiwanese military exercises — notably the major annual **Han Kuang** drills — were prepared well in advance. Units had time to deploy their equipment, rehearse sequences, and memorize procedures. This format was useful for mass training but ill-suited to the current threat. The new approach imposes controlled improvisation: orders arrive with minimal notice, units must improvise their deployment in conditions close to those of a real crisis.

A rocket unit commander had illustrated this difference during earlier exercises: "Before, we would arrive at the firing position a week in advance to finalize launch preparations. This time, we arrived one day ahead." This compression of preparation time is a direct indicator of real operational capability against strategic surprise. In a single week's reduction, this symbolizes exactly the shortening of warning time that Minister **Koo** described.

### Simulation of the worst case: the conversion of an exercise into an invasion

The exercises were explicitly designed to prepare Taiwanese forces for a particularly dreaded scenario: that **China** uses one of its regular military exercises as cover to launch a real invasion operation. In that case, the time between "normal Chinese exercise" and "start of the invasion" would be minimal — perhaps a few hours, perhaps less. Only forces capable of switching instantly to combat mode would have any chance of holding out through the critical opening hours.

On **June 24, 2026**, the third day of exercises, Taiwanese forces blocked the **Tamsui River** to simulate stopping the advance of an amphibious assault. This type of urban-riverine exercise is among the most complex — it involves real-time coordination between ground, naval, and coastal defense forces in a populated environment. The presence of **23 Chinese military aircraft** detected between **June 22 and 23**, of which **20 crossed the median line** of the strait, provided a realistic backdrop — perhaps a little too realistic.

*Blocking the Tamsui River while Chinese fighters cruise over the strait — it is almost theatrical, except that it is not theater. These soldiers are training to die defending their island. That reality deserves more than one paragraph in a Western newspaper.*

## The first rocket fire toward China: a powerful symbol

### An unprecedented historical exercise

In early **June 2026**, during preparatory exercises leading up to the major drills, **Taiwan** had for the first time conducted rocket firings in the direction of mainland **China** — from a beach on the eastern side of the island, toward the **Western Pacific**, in the direction where Chinese forces are positioned. It was not a strike on Chinese territory, but a simulation exercise under realistic conditions. A powerful symbol: **Taipei** was demonstrating its capability and its will to resist.

This symbolic choice of direction — toward the Pacific rather than the strait — also underscores the Taiwanese awareness that the threat may not come solely from the **strait**. The Chinese patrols east of **Taiwan** at the start of the month had shown that the **PLA** can project significant force into those waters. Training is adapting to this reality.

### The complete overhaul of defensive doctrine

The **June 2026** exercises are part of a broader overhaul of Taiwanese military doctrine, initiated several years ago but accelerated under the pressure of a growing threat. **Taiwan** is gradually abandoning the model of large conventional battles in favor of an asymmetric defense: mobile forces, dispersed and hardened anti-ship and anti-aircraft weapons, decentralized command, enhanced civilian resilience. This transformation is directly inspired by the lessons of the war in **Ukraine**.

On **June 1, 2026**, the Taiwanese navy formally established a new **Coastal Combat Command**, consolidating surveillance capabilities, anti-ship missiles, and coastal drones under a single command structure. This reorganization aims to reduce decision times in the event of a sudden alert — precisely the problem that the **June 22–26** exercises address.

*Ukraine taught the West — and Taiwan — that resistance is not measured by the raw power of its armies. It is measured by the capacity to absorb, adapt, and strike back in the critical opening hours. Taiwan is integrating this lesson. I wish more allied governments would do the same.*

## The civilian dimension: building population resilience

### Total defense as a strategic concept

Military exercises are only one dimension of a total defense approach that **Taiwan** is progressively developing. The concept of "**total defense**" — inspired by Nordic models, notably Finnish and Swedish — integrates civilian preparedness for resistance alongside professional armed forces. Civilian crisis preparedness exercises, strategic reserves of fuel and food, evacuation plans, and decentralized command structures are all part of this doctrine.

Taiwan's Vice Premier had warned **Europe** in **June 2026**: "If **China** attacks **Taiwan** or even imposes a blockade around **Taiwan**, consider how the world's interests will be damaged." This statement was aimed directly at European leaders who might be tempted to view this potential conflict as distant. **Taiwan** produces more than **60%** of the world's advanced electronic chips and **90%** of the most advanced ones — its disruption would be a global economic shock.

### Preparing reserve forces

One objective of the **June 2026** exercises was to test the integration of reserve forces into the rapid response framework. **Taiwan** has a limited active army complemented by a large reserve corps. But mobilizing reservists takes time — precisely the time **Taipei** fears it may not have if **China** opts for a surprise scenario. The exercises therefore test the ability of commands to activate and integrate reservists quickly, in parallel with the action of active forces.

The major annual **Han Kuang** exercises will follow the immediate readiness exercises. But the difference between the two formats reflects an evolution in thinking: the **Han Kuang** are known in advance and prepared over a long lead time. The "immediate readiness" exercises that precede them are deliberately unpredictable. It is this unpredictability — inherent in any real war — that **Taipei** is now seeking to master.

*Surprise exercises are uncomfortable for military personnel and civilians alike — nobody likes to be caught off guard. But that is exactly their value. You don't learn to swim by swimming only in calm pools. Taiwan is now swimming in rougher waters. With good reason.*

## The threat from the inside: what Taiwanese people think

### Rising public support for defense

A public opinion survey conducted by **National Chengchi University** and published on **June 16, 2026** found that **Taiwanese people** prioritize strengthening Taiwan's defensive capabilities and deepening cooperation with the **United States** over improving relations with **mainland China**. This result reflects a profound shift in Taiwanese public opinion — less and less inclined toward conciliation, increasingly aware of the real threat.

This shift accelerated after the major Chinese military maneuvers around **Taiwan** in **2022–2024**, which made the military threat tangible to the ordinary population. Combat readiness exercises, once regarded as bureaucratic formalities by many **Taiwanese**, are now viewed with a mixture of seriousness and anxiety.

### The resistance of opposition parties

The defense question is not without internal political fractures in **Taiwan**. Opposition parties have significantly delayed the vote on the **2026** general budget, with repercussions on defensive capabilities. According to the **ISW**, these delays could "detrimentally affect Taiwan's defense readiness." Defense budget cuts were threatened, including funds for critical systems such as **Harpoon** missiles.

This internal political tension illustrates the paradox faced by many democracies confronting existential threats: normal parliamentary debates can become strategic vulnerabilities in a deteriorating security context. **Taipei** must defend its existence while maintaining the functioning of a pluralist democracy — with all the contradictions that entails.

*Opposition parties blocking the defense budget while Chinese aircraft cruise through the airspace — that is the price of democracy. I infinitely prefer this democratic imperfection to the military efficiency of Xi's China. But it still needs to be called out.*

## The Indo-Pacific gaze on these exercises

### Allies watching closely

The Taiwanese combat readiness exercises were followed closely by regional allies — notably **Japan**, the **United States**, **Australia**, and the **Philippines**. The tripartite **UK-France-Germany** declaration of **June 24** on Chinese actions east of **Taiwan** signals that interest in Taiwanese security is no longer limited to the Asia-Pacific zone. This change is significant but still insufficient to constitute a real deterrence coalition.

**NATO**'s **BALTOPS** exercises in the **Baltic**, involving **20 ships and 6,000 personnel from 15 nations**, were taking place simultaneously in **Europe**. The simultaneity of these exercises — in the **Baltic** facing the Russian threat, in the **Taiwan Strait** facing the Chinese threat — illustrates the reality of a world facing multiple and simultaneous threats. The **West** cannot afford to have only one front in its strategic thinking.

### The US Indo-Pacific Command's warning

Admiral **Paparo**, commander of **INDOPACOM**, had warned mid-**June 2026** before **Congress** that the danger of war with **China** was increasing and that American forces urgently needed new capabilities and armaments to prevent conflict. The **PLA**, according to his report, is engaged in a "historic expansion" of all its forces, training primarily for two missions: the annexation of **Taiwan** and the countering of U.S. and allied defensive capabilities.

This report, combined with the **June 2026** Taiwanese exercises, paints a coherent and troubling picture: on one side, an island seriously preparing for a war it hopes to avoid; on the other, an adversary methodically equipping and training for an eventual confrontation. The question is not whether this confrontation will happen — it is doing everything to prevent it from happening.

*Admiral Paparo speaks of a "historic expansion" of the PLA. Taiwan holds five days of surprise exercises. Europe issues communiqués. The asymmetry of response to the threat is real — and it will take far more than words to close that gap.*

## Lessons from the exercises for the West: a transferable model?

### NATO observes, but has not yet copied

**Taiwan**'s exercises generated particular attention in Western capitals. **NATO** strategists, who are themselves thinking through surprise attack scenarios — notably against **Russia** on the eastern flank — see in them a model worth studying. The doctrine of surprise, compressed decision timeframes, integrated civilian resilience: all elements that several Alliance members are now seeking to adopt.

**Poland**, **Lithuania**, and **Estonia** have all intensified their own rapid mobilization exercises since 2022. But Taiwan's density — an island where every square kilometer is defensible and every citizen is potentially mobilizable — offers a specificity that larger territories cannot replicate identically. What can be transferred is the mindset: the conviction that defense begins before war is declared.

### The strategic value of visibility: deterring by showing

These exercises are not purely military. They are also a political message. By making its drills visible — local and international journalists were present — **Taiwan** sends a clear signal to **Beijing**: we are ready, we are improving, invasion will not be easy. It is deterrence through demonstration, a strategy that small democracies surrounded by threatening powers have often employed.

**Ukraine** had done something similar before 2022, but with insufficient means and political resistance to public alarm. **Taiwan** has drawn that lesson. Today, it openly assumes its preparation, documents it, and broadcasts it. It is a strategic choice as much as a practical necessity: if the enemy knows you are ready, it recalculates the cost of attack.

*I look at these exercises and I think of all the democracies still waiting for danger to become "official" before preparing. Taiwan has long understood that in this world, naivety is suicidal foreign policy.*

## Semiconductors at the heart of the global geopolitical stake

### TSMC: the variable that changes the entire strategic calculus

You cannot talk about **Taiwan** without talking about **TSMC**. The **Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company** produces roughly **90%** of the world's most advanced chips — the ones that power artificial intelligence, smartphones, military systems, and critical infrastructure across the West. The destruction or capture of these facilities would irreversibly alter the global technological balance.

This is precisely why **Beijing** cannot simply bomb **Taiwan** without partially destroying itself. But it is also why a blockade or gradual takeover represents a feared scenario: **China** would then obtain the ultimate technological leverage over its adversaries. These five days of exercises therefore carry an economic and technological dimension that is often underestimated in purely military analyses.

### Western dependency: a vulnerability the West is slow to correct

The **United States**, **Europe**, and **Japan** have all launched programs to reshore semiconductor production. The American **CHIPS Act**, European investments in **Germany** and the **Netherlands**, **TSMC**'s expansions in **Arizona** and **Japan**: all initiatives to reduce dependence. But these factories will not be fully operational for several more years.

In the meantime, if **Taiwan** falls, or if a blockade succeeds, the West would find itself in a position of historic technological weakness. **Taipei**'s exercises therefore also serve as a reminder to Washington, Brussels, and Tokyo of what they stand to lose — and why words are no longer enough. Support for **Taiwan** is not just a question of democratic values. It is a question of industrial and technological survival.

*When I think about TSMC, I think about this dependence the West failed to anticipate — just as it failed to anticipate its dependence on Russian gas. We have a second chance to correct this mistake. The question is whether we will seize it before it is too late.*

## Conclusion: five days that say a great deal about the years ahead

### Exercises as a strategic mirror

These five days of immediate combat readiness exercises reveal both **Taipei**'s lucidity and the scale of the challenge. **Taiwan** has none of the illusions of an island that believes itself invulnerable. It is adapting, transforming itself, and seeking to compensate through speed and flexibility for what it cannot match in mass. It is admirable — and it is necessary.

### What the world must retain

**Taiwan**'s security is not just Taiwan's concern. It is the concern of every democracy that depends on freedom of navigation in the **Pacific**, on Taiwanese semiconductors, and on an international order where force does not triumph over law. Five days of exercises showed that **Taiwan** takes this reality seriously. The question is whether the rest of the world is prepared to do the same.

*Five days of exercises. Thousands of soldiers mobilized without warning. Rocket firings symbolically aimed at China. Taiwan is doing what nations that have decided to survive do: it is preparing. It is for us to decide whether we will rise to what it is asking of us — the real support of allies who do not let go.*

**By Maxime Marquette, columnist**

## Columnist's transparency note

### Editorial stance

I am not a journalist but a **columnist and analyst**. My expertise lies in observing and analysing the geopolitical, economic and strategic dynamics that shape our world. My work is to take political strategies apart, to understand global economic movements, to put the decisions of international actors in context and to offer analytical perspectives on the changes that are redefining our societies.

I do not claim the cold objectivity of traditional journalism, which stops at reporting facts. **I claim analytical clarity**, rigorous interpretation and a deep understanding of the complex issues that concern us all. My role is to give meaning to the facts, to place them in their historical and strategic context, and to offer a critical reading of events.

### Method and sources

This text keeps the basic distinction between **verified facts and interpretive analysis**. The rule never changes: a factual claim is published only when a verifiable source supports it, and the sources this article actually used are listed under **Sources**, never here.

**Primary source families** used by the publication, when the story has them: official statements from governments and international institutions, public statements by political leaders, reports from intergovernmental organisations, dispatches from recognised international news agencies.

**Secondary source families**: specialised publications, internationally recognised news media, analyses from established research institutions, reports from industry organisations.

When an article cites statistical, economic or geopolitical data, it comes from the institutions that produce it (intergovernmental organisations, central banks, national statistics offices), and the exact institution is named under **Sources**.

### Nature of the analysis

The analyses, interpretations and perspectives in the analytical sections of this article are a **critical, contextual synthesis** based on the information available, the trends observed and the expert comments cited in the sources consulted.

My role is to interpret these facts, to set them in the context of today's geopolitical and economic dynamics, and to give them a coherent meaning within the larger story of the changes shaping our time. These analyses reflect expertise built through continuous observation of international affairs and an understanding of the strategic mechanisms that drive global actors.

This article describes a documented state of affairs on its publication date, not a prediction: later developments may shift its outlook. No update is promised in advance; when an article is corrected or completed, the change is dated in the text.

## Sources

### Primary sources

- [Straits Times — Taiwan says warning time for any China attack is shortening — June 24, 2026](https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/taiwan-says-warning-time-for-any-china-attack-is-shortening)

- [India Today — Taiwan launches 5 days of realistic exercises to counter Chinese grey-zone threats — June 22, 2026](https://www.indiatoday.in/world/story/taiwan-military-exercise-live-fire-drills-counter-chinese-grey-zone-threats-ptag-2931647-2026-06-22)

- [ISW — China-Taiwan Update, June 26, 2026 — June 26, 2026](https://understandingwar.org/research/china-taiwan/china-taiwan-update-june-26-2026/)

- [South China Morning Post — Amid PLA pressure, Taiwan simulates rapid deployment in crisis — June 22, 2026](https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3357942/amid-pla-pressure-taiwan-starts-drill-simulate-rapid-deployment-crisis)

### Secondary sources

- [Modern Diplomacy — Taiwan warns response time to Chinese attack is shrinking — June 24, 2026](https://moderndiplomacy.eu/2026/06/24/taiwan-warns-china-attack-response-time-is-shrinking-amid-rising-military-pressure/)

- [AEI — China-Taiwan Update, June 26, 2026 — June 26, 2026](https://www.aei.org/articles/china-taiwan-update-june-26-2026/)

- [Dimsum Daily — Taiwan launches combat readiness drill amid PLA flights — June 22, 2026](https://www.dimsumdaily.hk/taiwan-launches-combat-readiness-drill-amid-pla-flights/)

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Source: Maxime Marquette, MadMax. When citing, name the author and link https://mad-max.co/en/article/reportage-cinq-jours-d-exercices-taiwan-s-entraine-a-l-invasion