Taiwanese President Lai Ching-Te supervised the military live-Fire exercises of the island with the US-made Abrams M1A2T tanks Thursday, part of the annual exercises aimed at sharpening his defense against China.
Lai watched how four of the tanks shot in couples, and like a group on a test field south of Taipei on the second day of the 10-day Han Kuang exercises-Taiwan’s longest ever. The tanks shot on the road and of fixed positions and achieved both stationary and moving goals with 100% accuracy, according to the army.
Lai described this year’s exercises as ‘large -scale, realistic combat exercises’.
“If our army has more strength, the nation, society and people will be safer. As soon as our country becomes safe, the Indo-Pacific region will be more peaceful and more stable,” the president told troops and reporters at the base in Hsinchu County.
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Taiwan agreed to buy 108 of the US tanks for $ 1.45 billion in a large upgrade to the Arsenal training practices of the island, which now include F-16V Jet-Jet Weerders, Himar’s rocketing weather and secretly unmanned vehicles.
Taiwan President Lai Ching-Te, Center, inspects a Live-Fire shooting training in Hsinchu County, Taiwan, Thursday 10 July 2025. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-Ying)
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China has threatened to use violence to bring Taiwan under his control and to bother the island nation almost a day with balloons and military ships in nearby waters.
M1A2T Abrams main combat tanks are prepared for a Military Live Fire shooting training in Hsinchu County, Taiwan, Thursday 10 July 2025. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-Ying)
Beijing has mocked the war exercises as a farce that will have no effect on the determination to take over the island, whose population rejects overwhelming unity with China.
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The US is the largest supplier of Taiwan of imported defensive weapons and is bound by the law to consider threats to the island as a matter of ‘great care’, although it is deliberately unclear whether it would use forces to combat a Chinese attack.
The Associated Press has contributed to this report.
