Taiwan could draw lessons from U.S.-led Pacific exercises: Minister

Taipei, June 24 (CNA) Defense Minister Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said Wednesday that Taiwan should closely monitor ongoing United States-led multinational military exercises in the Western Pacific as it conducts drills of its own.

Though Koo was asked specifically about the U.S.-led Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise at a legislative hearing, he said that compared with RIMPAC, "what deserves even more of our attention are Resolute Dragon and Valiant Shield."

Koo was responding to a question from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wang Ting-yu (王定宇), who asked whether Taiwan's ongoing and planned military exercises were linked to the RIMPAC exercise, which began Wednesday and will run through July 31, and other drills set to run through August.

Wang noted that Taiwan has scheduled a series of major exercises during the same period, including the Immediate Combat Readiness Exercise, which began Monday, the Joint Defense Exercise, which begins in mid-July, and the Han Kuang exercises to be held in August.

Of the two exercises Koo highlighted, Valiant Shield 2026 began on Monday in the Mariana Islands, Guam, and Japan, according to the U.S. Pacific Fleet, while Resolute Dragon 2026 began on June 20 and runs until June 30, U.S. Forces Japan announced recently.

Koo said Resolute Dragon focuses on Japan's Kyushu and Ryukyu island chains, which stretch southwest from Kyushu toward Taiwan.

The exercise involves joint operations across multiple islands and, from the U.S. perspective, the deployment of expeditionary forces to forward areas for joint training with the Japan Self-Defense Forces, he said.

Valiant Shield, meanwhile, is broader in scope, spanning Hawaii, Guam and other locations, and involves a larger number of participants, including Australia and other observers, Koo said.

Although official U.S. documents do not explicitly state that the two multinational exercises are intended to counter Chinese military forces in the region, Koo said their strategic focus was "unequivocal."

Asked by Wang whether personnel from the U.S. Pacific Command's J5 Directorate (Strategy, Plans and Policy) had been sent to Taiwan to participate in the ongoing military exercise and whether it intends to do so for future exercises, Hsieh Jih-sheng (謝日升), deputy chief of the general staff for intelligence, declined to comment.

Hsieh added, however, that Taiwan is "definitely not alone" in the military operations conducted by its international partners across the Indo-Pacific region.