Taiwan to hold first 'immediate response' drill next week: Source

Taipei, March 12 (CNA) Taiwan's armed forces will hold an unprecedented "immediate response" military drill (立即備戰操演) involving all military branches next week in response to China's gray zone warfare, a military source told CNA on Tuesday.

The source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the new round of exercises will begin on March 17 and last five days.

The drill will be "comprehensive," with troops dispatched to their assigned defensive positions accordingly, the source said, without elaborating.

Taiwan's Defense Minister Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said last week that the military was planning an "immediate response" drill in response to rampant "gray zone" harassments and threats posed by the Chinese military, but did not say when it would be held.

Among the recent gray zone activities Koo was referring to were recent reports of submarine cables in the Taiwan Strait being severed by ships sailing under flags of convenience with links to China over the past few months.

In February, a Togolese-registered vessel and its Chinese crew were detained on suspicion of severing a cable between the island of Taiwan and the outlying Penghu County.

Gray zone activities refer to actions that involve ambiguous or nontraditional methods that aim to achieve strategic objectives without overtly crossing the threshold into open conflict.

A source told local media that the so-called "immediate response" drill is aimed at better familiarizing troops with their strategic defensive positions and getting them ready to respond swiftly should China turn gray zone activities into an actual military attack.