Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) says Taiwan has no plan to hold evacuation drills of foreign nationals during this year’s Han Kuang exercise.
Wu, speaking at a legislative hearing on Wednesday, emphasized that every country has their own contingency plans, which are revised every year. He added that his ministry has asked countries one by one whether they are holding evacuation drills, and they each said they were currently not practicing evacuation drills, including Indonesia, who was reportedly drafting plans to evacuate its citizens last month.
Recent media reports have said that the United States was urging Taiwan to incorporate evacuation drills for foreign nationals into the annual military exercise, which tests Taiwan’s readiness for an invasion from China. However, the National Defense Ministry denied the reports.
This year’s 39th Han Kuang exercise will first begin with a digital wargame from May 15 to May 19. The official exercise will be conducted from July 24 to July 28.