President 
Lai Ching-te inspected the final day of a three-day joint precision-strike exercise at the Jiupeng base in Pingtung County on September 18. Lai said it was the first time the armed forces had brought multiple types of attack drones into a joint operations drill, pairing uncrewed vehicles with conventional weapons in response to the form of modern warfare. The live fire he watched included Tien Kung III air-defence missiles and a Hsiung Feng III anti-ship missile.
What did Lai tell the troops? In remarks carried by Taiwan's Central News Agency (CNA), Lai said units had spent the three days on joint air defence, counter-operations, sea-air coordination, littoral strike and near-shore defence under the Taiwan-Penghu defence operations plan, and had met every objective. The drill showed the public and the international community that the military had the confidence and ability to defend national sovereignty, he said. "Peace does not come easily; it needs firm determination and sufficient strength to protect it," Lai said at the stop, which doubled as a Mid-Autumn Festival visit where he handed out bonus meal money. The government would keep backing better training and new equipment for the military, he said.
What was fired? Domestically built Jing Feng drones and drones from the Lie Xiu project hit their targets, while ALTIUS 600M drones bought from the United States also showed their strike capability, Taiwan's public broadcaster PTS reported. The Hsiung Feng III, billed as a "carrier killer," struck the navy's decommissioned ship Lan Yang, hull number 935, which erupted in fire and smoke. In Presidential Office photos carried by CNA, the army's HIMARS launchers fired M28 training rounds at targets at sea.
What was China doing? China said on September 17 that it had launched a "joint combat readiness patrol" against Taiwan, and Taiwan's defence ministry detected 28 Chinese military aircraft sorties, seven naval vessels and two official ships around the Taiwan Strait in a single day, PTS reported. One drone lingered off Taitung from the early hours of September 18 until 6am, with the military keeping it under close watch. Shu Hsiao-huang, an associate research fellow at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, told PTS it could not be ruled out that the drone was collecting radar and electronic parameters, and that its approach should not be taken lightly.
Figures referenced: Lai Ching-te. — JudgeMarket.
