By David Lague and Yimou Lee
PENGHU, Taiwan, Aug 28 (Reuters) - In the pre-dawn darkness on an island in the Taiwan Strait, Taiwanese troops earlier this month pulled long, gleaming 105mm shells from their green plastic canisters. After all the ammunition had been checked and safely loaded through hatches on four tanks, troops waited silently for the order to fire.
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The soldiers are among the thousands of troops that form a garrison on the Penghu Islands and they are training
for war with China. If Beijing decides to attack, they will be on Taiwan’s frontline.
A popular tourist destination known for its pristine beaches and coral reefs, this strategically crucial cluster of 90 islands and islets, about 50 km off the southwest coast of the main island of Taiwan, would be hit in the first wave of an attempted Chinese invasion, according to senior Taiwanese security officials and military experts.
For Taiwan, holding Penghu would allow its forces to resist a Chinese invasion fleet heading towards the main island of Taiwan, the security experts said. To ensure that Chinese ships and planes don’t become targets, Beijing must seize Penghu or destroy the garrison’s long-range missiles.
If PLA ships tried to attack Taiwan while bypassing Penghu, these ships “could be struck by missiles from Penghu,” said Su Tzu-yun of Taiwan's top military think tank, the Institute for National Defense and Security Research. “That forces the PLA to attack Penghu before it can attack Taiwan,” he said, referring to China’s military, the People’s Liberation Army.
By deploying longer-range weapons such as Hsiung Feng III missiles on Penghu, a senior Taiwanese official told Reuters, Taiwan could also make it harder for the PLA to assemble forces along the Chinese coast for an invasion. These forces could be targeted even before they set out across the Strait.
If Penghu were taken, the entire Taiwan Strait would effectively fall into China's hands, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.
Taipei has been investing in Penghu’s defense, including running programs to beef up the resilience of the 110,000 people who live on the islands in the event of war. Beijing, which is engaged in a major military buildup, has not renounced the use of force against Taiwan.
China’s quest to take control of Taiwan is at the heart of the battle between Beijing and Washington for broader control in the Asia-Pacific region. China views democratically governed Taiwan as its territory and President Xi Jinping has ordered the PLA to be ready to seize the island by 2027, U.S. officials have said. Taipei says it is already independent and that its future can be decided only by the Taiwanese people.
China’s defense ministry did not respond to questions about Penghu. Ministry spokesperson Jiang Bin told reporters this year that Taiwan’s plans to fortify the islands were “increasingly absurd and delusional” and that Taipei faced “total destruction” if it provoked war.
Taiwan’s defense ministry declined to comment on combat plans for Penghu, while the Pentagon did not respond to questions.
For the troops waiting in the dark at the August 10 drill on the main island of the Penghu group, the quiet was shattered when artillery guns nestled under camouflage netting fired illumination rounds out to sea. These shells burst with a crump in the distance, casting brilliant light over the ocean approaches.
In a series of maneuvers, the four tanks, along with armored personnel carriers, wheeled forward through clouds of dust, exhaust fumes and explosive gases, blasting away at “invaders” attempting to land. As sunlight crept across the sea, artillery, mortars and infantry poured fire down over the ocean below. Orange-red tracers from machine guns arced into the sky.
The live-fire drill on the sixth day of the annual Han Kuang exercises was part of rehearsals across Taiwan to resist landings by air and sea. In the same week, the Navy's Coastal Operations Command deployed to Penghu for the first time, sending powerful Hsiung Feng missile launch vehicles to beachfront positions in anti-ship and anti-landing operations, Taiwan military officials briefed on the matter told Reuters.
Penghu's strategic location, along with the presence of such weapons, makes the islands a prime target for the PLA, according to Su. Taiwan’s two other major offshore islands, Kinmen and Matsu, were too close to China to be a useful part of a defensive network, he said.
But, he added, Taiwanese forces could catch invading Chinese ships in a crossfire of missiles between the Penghu Islands and the main island of Taiwan. Missiles on the islands could also launch “counter strikes” further into China’s hinterland, he said.
Taiwan's defense ministry is pushing the use of unmanned aerial vehicles to defend Penghu. The military established the first drone force on the islands in July and the UAVs were deployed during the Han Kuang exercises.
The United States, Taiwan’s most important security partner, has also emphasized the importance of drones to any defense of Taiwan.
Beijing tightly restricts public discussion of specific military plans related to Taiwan, though Chinese strategists have previously identified the importance of these islands. Retired Lt. Gen. Wang Hongguang, for instance, suggested in 2019 that the PLA “strategically suppress” Taiwan by occupying the Penghu Islands, according to Chinese state media.
During a war game attended by retired U.S., Taiwanese and Japanese military officials last year, Penghu fell just a day after China began surprise long-range attacks on military and infrastructure targets across Taiwan.
The quick capitulation to the PLA startled the Taiwanese participants in the exercise organized by a Taipei think tank, according to a summary report of the activity seen by Reuters.
When asked about that war game, the Taiwanese defense ministry referred to Defense Minister Wellington Koo’s statement last year that the government takes such exercises into account when making adjustments to its defensive plans.
While the Taiwanese military trains to repel a Chinese landing, Penghu officials and residents are preparing to play their part.
Yen Min-ching is one of roughly 1,200 people on Penghu who have been certified by the Taiwanese government’s “whole-of-society defense resilience” program. Volunteers are trained to provide support, including first aid, in the event of emergencies like earthquakes and invasions.
Yen, a retired police officer who is now an elected neighborhood chief, is acutely aware of Penghu’s exposed position between the Chinese coast and Taiwan, and has encouraged local residents to sign up to the program. By the end of the year, about 200,000 people across Taiwan will have completed the training.
“We absolutely need to have a sense of crisis,” said Huxi township chief Chen Chen-chung, whose district hosts key infrastructure, including cargo transport docks and an airport used for civil and military purposes, as well as Penghu’s main power plant.
The Penghu Islands “would definitely be one of the first places attacked," said Chen, who leads roughly 100 people in a civil defense group that is tasked with wartime support missions. These may include distributing rations, setting up defensive fortifications and countering enemy propaganda.
Local business people like autos workshop owner Ho Chi-hua have signed agreements to cooperate with Taiwanese authorities.
During an August drill that simulated a scenario in which military logistics facilities were damaged, rifle-carrying troops joined Ho’s staff as they practiced emergency repairs on military vehicles.
Ho acknowledged that such work could make his business a target during wartime but said he accepts the risk. “We have a responsibility to protect our own land and our own way of life.”
Penghu is also preparing for Chinese coercion that stops short of a military attack: Beijing could impose a blockade on Taiwan, which could quickly choke Taipei’s trade-dependent economy and leave offshore islands like Penghu isolated.
Locals starved of supplies might quickly capitulate, said Kao Yu-jou, a 15-year-old student on the islands. “People might think: let's surrender first, get something to eat, and after I'm full, then we’ll see.”
But taxi driver William Chen said he would resist: “If my homeland were invaded, there’s no way I could just stand by.”
Magong, Penghu’s urban center, has rehearsed its response, holding drills that simulate a blockade and all-out combat, said its mayor Huang Jian-zhong.
Municipal authorities have signed agreements with grocery stores, pharmacies and construction companies to safeguard emergency supplies and repair capabilities if a crisis occurs, government documents show.
Chen, the Huxi township executive, also advises his constituents to keep more than half a month’s worth of supplies in home storage.
If fighting does arrive, it will not be the first time. These islands, with a deep natural harbor, have been a springboard for invasions of Taiwan over the centuries. When Taiwan was a Japanese colony during World War Two, the harbor was the target of allied bombing attacks late in the conflict.
Some analysts think Penghu will provide stiff resistance. The prospect of heavy losses during World War Two had prompted U.S. war planners to cancel a planned offensive on the islands as part of a wider invasion of Taiwan, said Ian Easton of the U.S. Naval War College, a leading researcher of China’s invasion plans for Taiwan.
“My guess is that if the terrible crunch ever comes, the PLA will find these islands a tough nut to crack,” he said.
(Reporting by David Lague and Yimou Lee. Additional reporting by Fabian Hamacher, Yi-Chin Lee and Ben Blanchard. Editing by Katerina Ang and Peter Hirschberg.)
