Taiwan's Han Kuang Exercise Targets Tamsui River as Key Invasion Route

TAIPEI – Taiwan's 10-day Han Kuang military exercise this year put the Tamsui River at the center of its defensive drills. The waterway, which snakes through northwest Taiwan and empties into the Taiwan Strait, is a strategic vulnerability that could give Chinese forces a direct route into central Taipei, analysts said.

In one exercise held in the dead of night, troops laid metal barricades and land mines along an intersection a mile from the presidential office. Clouded Leopard infantry fighting vehicles prepared to roll out and engage enemy forces. The blockaded roads led to the Guangfu Bridge, a four-lane crossing that spans the river between New Taipei City and the capital proper.

Tristan Tang, a nonresident fellow at the National Bureau of Asian Research, said the Tamsui is a “real geographic vulnerability” that Taiwan has trained to defend for years. The river is up to 4,500 feet wide at its mouth, wide enough for China's Zubr-class air-cushion landing craft, which can move at more than 50 knots, Tang said. “So from a capability standpoint, the PLA does have ways to potentially use the Tamsui River corridor to get into Taipei,” he told Business Insider.

The Tamsui forms part of what Tang calls the “iron triangle” for Taipei's defense – the estuary, Bali Beach, and Taipei Port. Bali Beach is one of the more plausible landing areas near the capital. Taipei Port would allow an invading force to offload troops and supplies quickly. Preventing a “surprise thrust” by way of the river is key to the island's defense, Tang said.

During one drill at the river mouth, Taiwanese divers and army soldiers placed dozens of pontoons strapped with explosive barrels while CM11 Brave Tiger tanks kept watch. Delaying measures such as this could prove crucial, because a common view among American and Taiwanese analysts is that the island's defense depends on its ability to hold out long enough for outside forces to intervene.