ACADEMIA

An American military adviser group is observing a computer simulation that is part of Taiwan's annual "Han Kuang 21" military exercise, a legislator of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said Tuesday. The remarks by DPP Legislator Lee Wen-chung, a member of the defense committee in the Legislative Yuan and an expert in Taiwan military affairs, came after Japan's NHK TV channel reported that Dennis Blair, former head of the U.S. Pacific Command, is leading a delegation of around 20 military officers that is observing the computerized wargames that started Monday. NHK commented that this was the first time that the U.S. Defense Department has openly said it has sent military personnel to Taiwan, which the TV channel claimed "strongly indicates" that it wants to counterbalance China. Lee said that this is not the first time that the U.S. Pacific Command has sent a military adviser group to monitor the computerized wargames. But with the continued expansion of China's military might, he claimed, military cooperation between Taiwan and the United States will become even closer. He noted that in the past, the U.S. adviser group would only observe some of the wargames, but this year they will observe throughout the five-day period of the games. The five-day computerized war simulations are armed at honing various combat strategies and tactics, including anti-blockade strategies, airborne defense control, naval forces' air defense and maritime control tactics, as well as cyber-defense operations. The computer war game this year aims at preventing the enemy's possible abrupt attacks. The Joint Theater Simulation System consists of connecting the computer systems of the different Taiwan theaters - including the battle zones in the north, south, east, west, and Navy's Fleet Command as well as with the neighboring islands of Kinmen and Matsu.