AP, TAIPEI, Taiwan: Taiwan's military will close part of a popular freeway Wednesday so jet fighters can practice using it as an emergency runway a rare drill to prepare pilots for the possible bombing of air bases by China, officials said.
The island hasn't held such an exercise in 26 years, and it comes as China conducts war games that Beijing's state-controlled media have said are practice for a long-threatened attack on Taiwan.
The rivals who separated amid civil war in 1949 usually hold large-scale military exercises at this time of year when the weather is good in the Taiwan Strait, the 100-mile-wide body of water that separates the two sides.
The drills are partly about posturing, with China trying to warn the Taiwanese against seeking a permanent split, and Taiwan which has repeatedly rebuffed Beijing's demands to unify wanting to show that it's ready to fend off any invasion.
Using the highway as a runway is part of Taiwan's series of annual war games, called the Hankuang, or Chinese Glory, said Defense Ministry spokesman Huang Shey-sheng.
One popular battle scenario has China destroying Taiwan's air strips with short-range missiles and bombers. To deal with such a loss, the Taiwanese have designated several sections of highway as emergency runways.
An five mile section of the freeway in southern Tainan County will be closed to traffic from 3 a.m. to 9 a.m. local time Wednesday as two French-made Mirage jets practice landing, refueling, reloading and taking off, officials said.
''We will practice using the freeway as a runway at the time of a war,'' Huang told reporters Tuesday at a weekly briefing.
Shu Hsiao-huang, an editor of the local magazine Defense International, said using the highways is a wise strategy. ''With the spare runways, China would have to use up more missiles and this would reduce our risks and increase their costs,'' Shu said.
Taiwan's navy also plans to stage an exercise Wednesday involving anti-submarine aircraft, French-made Lafayette frigates and other vessels, said a naval official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The naval official did not give further details, but the United Evening News said the aircraft will practice bombing submarines.
Also on Tuesday, Taiwan's military urged the public not to worry about the large-scale military exercises China is holding this month on Dongshan Island, off China's southern coast. The military dismissed them as routine annual drills.
But China's state-controlled media have warned that one purpose of the drills was to discourage Taiwan from seeking formal independence. Some Taiwanese especially the younger generation oppose unification with China.
