On Tuesday, several retired senior military officials from the United States, Japan, and Taiwan came together to participate in “Taiwan Defense TTX”, tabletop exercises geared to assess Taiwan’s current defense strategy and readiness in the face of a potential cross-strait conflict.
Organized by the Taipei School of Economics and Political Science Foundation (TSEF), the event marks the most senior-level participation in a civilian-led military simulation ever held in Taiwan. Participants include former U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael Mullen, former U.S. Pacific Commander in Chief Dennis Blair, former Chief of Staff of Japan’s Self-Defense Forces General Shigeru Iwasaki, and Taiwan’s former Chief of the General Staff Lee Hsi-ming.
The war games created a 2030 conflict where a full-scale Chinese military attack was launched on Taiwan. Focusing primarily on military operations, the scene assumed that Taiwan has already built credible asymmetric warfare capabilities and included scenarios of Chinese “deterrence, harassment, and invasion” to identify viable response strategies.
TSEF Chairman Huang Huang-hsiung (黃煌雄) says the purpose of the exercise was to evaluate whether Taiwan’s current strategic readiness, military force development, and operational concepts are sufficient to meet the challenges of such a conflict. He notes that the participants' deep familiarity with Taiwan Strait dynamics ensures that the exercises reflect realistic, actionable insights for improving Taiwan’s defense planning.