Caught between two superpowers, Taiwan stands to be the world’s most dangerous flash point.
The island democracy of 23.2 million people knows its precarious position. For the last four decades, the global semiconductor hub has conducted annual military drills focused on staving off a cross-strait invasion by Beijing, which considers the island part of its territory and refuses to rule out a seizure by military force.
The Han Kuang exercises, originally meant to display Taiwan’s mettle to mainland China and the world, are quickly taking on a new form. Taipei is now more keen to use the drills as a realistic stress test for its outnumbered forces and civilian institutions.
Force-on-force combat and audacious beach landings that characterized previous Han Kuangs have given way to an emphasis on smaller skirmishes, logistics missions, and ambush setups.
The change comes as a proverbial, though hypothetical, deadline for Taiwan looms: China’s Xi Jinping has ordered his country’s troops to be ready for military action by 2027. While analysts around the world don’t see how Beijing could pull off an invasion by then, the threat remains.
Business Insider attended over a dozen drills during the 42nd edition of the Han Kuang, which ran for 10 days and nine nights in August.
The exercises show how the island has been preparing for what its likeliest scenarios, from decapitation strikes to sabotage to urban warfare, with an arsenal of American, European, and domestic weaponry.
All the while, the US — widely regarded as Taiwan’s main hope of defeating a full-on Chinese attack — has kept a close watch, quietly sending advisors to observe.
Check out our coverage of Han Kuang 2026, Taiwan’s rehearsal of what could be the most consequential battle of the modern age.
