Taiwan's Marines Wrap Up Final Day of Rapid Response Drill

President Lai Ching-te says he wants to increase pay for career soldiers as Taiwan wraps up five days of a new kind of military drill.

Transcript

00:00For the past five days, Taiwan's military has been conducting a new kind of exercise

00:06in which it tests how quickly its armed forces can mobilize against an attack from China.

00:12Those drills come to an end with a final inspection from President Lai Ching-da on how Marines

00:16would protect Songshan Air Force Base, which sits here in the capital city of Taipei.

00:21This group of soldiers is known as the 66th Brigade, and they were recently deployed to

00:25defend Songshan Airport, which not only operates as a civilian airfield, but also as a military

00:31base.

00:32This week's nationwide rapid response drills were the first of its kind, as President Lai

00:37Ching-da signals more investments into military reform and strategy.

00:42That includes plans to increase salaries for career soldiers.

00:45I want to emphasize that adjusting the national military's treatment is a long-term process.

00:52I want to emphasize that adjusting the national military's treatment is a long-term process.

01:08On top of the pay raise, Taiwan has also been leaning more towards a robust asymmetric defense

01:13strategy, which means using smaller, more lethal weapons that can be moved around easily.

01:19Weapons like the U.S.-made Stinger and Javelin, and Taiwan's domestically-made Kestrel rocket

01:24launcher.

01:26The hope is that using these weapons, in combination with more realistic training, will help Taiwan

01:30stand up to aggression from neighboring China.

01:33Across Taiwan, various units are now returning home and preparing for the next large-scale

01:38military drill, which is set for July.

01:42Officials here say they plan to conduct these rapid response exercises at least twice a

01:46year, with the goal of getting better at protecting Taiwan and responding more quickly and effectively

01:51from threats from China.

01:53Chris Ma and Jaime O'Connor in Taipei for Taiwan Plus.