Army holds live-fire anti-landing drill on Taoyuan beach

Taipei, Dec. 26 (CNA) The Army conducted the first-ever live-fire drill on the Guanyin Coastal Recreation area in Taoyuan on Tuesday to prepare against a potential Chinese amphibious landing.

The simulated defense of the recreational beach by soldiers from the 249th mechanized infantry brigade involved small arms firing drills using T65K2, T91 rifles and 45 handguns, the Army said.

According to the Army, the coastline around Taoyuan is an important site for defense drills due to the presence of Taoyuan International Airport as well as its proximity to key government institutions in neighboring Taipei.

While drills have been previously conducted in the area, this was the first time live-fire exercises were held on a recreational beach, the Army said.

Col. Chiu Wen-kuang (邱文光), major of the 249th brigade, said the training integrated a series of field operation training for frontline troops.

He said field training on the coast involved on-site environmental assessments, noting that wind and sand on the beach, for example, may cause guns to malfunction, sharpening soldiers' troubleshooting skills.

The next field training of a similar nature will be held on Thursday at Sishu Beach in Tainan.

Both Guanyin and Sishu are marked as "red beaches." The military has been conducting military simulations and field training activities on these beaches since March this year.

The military has classified beaches as red, yellow and blue according to ease of military landing.

Red beaches are considered likely candidates for large-scale landing operations while yellow beaches may be the site of unconventional landing operations and blue beaches are those thought to be unsuitable for any kind of amphibious landing, according to the military.