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Taiwan's Marines Wrap Up Final Day of Rapid Response Drill
TaiwanPlus News
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3/21/2025
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.
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00:00
For the past five days, Taiwan's military has been conducting a new kind of exercise
00:06
in which it tests how quickly its armed forces can mobilize against an attack from China.
00:12
Those drills come to an end with a final inspection from President Lai Ching-da on how Marines
00:16
would protect Songshan Air Force Base, which sits here in the capital city of Taipei.
00:21
This group of soldiers is known as the 66th Brigade, and they were recently deployed to
00:25
defend Songshan Airport, which not only operates as a civilian airfield, but also as a military
00:31
base.
00:32
This week's nationwide rapid response drills were the first of its kind, as President Lai
00:37
Ching-da signals more investments into military reform and strategy.
00:42
That includes plans to increase salaries for career soldiers.
00:45
I want to emphasize that adjusting the national military's treatment is a long-term process.
00:52
I want to emphasize that adjusting the national military's treatment is a long-term process.
01:08
On top of the pay raise, Taiwan has also been leaning more towards a robust asymmetric defense
01:13
strategy, which means using smaller, more lethal weapons that can be moved around easily.
01:19
Weapons like the U.S.-made Stinger and Javelin, and Taiwan's domestically-made Kestrel rocket
01:24
launcher.
01:26
The hope is that using these weapons, in combination with more realistic training, will help Taiwan
01:30
stand up to aggression from neighboring China.
01:33
Across Taiwan, various units are now returning home and preparing for the next large-scale
01:38
military drill, which is set for July.
01:42
Officials here say they plan to conduct these rapid response exercises at least twice a
01:46
year, with the goal of getting better at protecting Taiwan and responding more quickly and effectively
01:51
from threats from China.
01:53
Chris Ma and Jaime O'Connor in Taipei for Taiwan Plus.
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