KAOHSIUNG, Taiwan - South Korean tourist Kim Ji-ho was shocked when air raid sirens sounded while he was travelling through the Taiwanese city of Kaohsiung earlier this week.

For a brief moment, the 22-year-old was confused when he saw cars and buses pulling over on the roads in the southern city, and pedestrians heading indoors. Some retail stores switched off the lights and pulled down the shutters. 

“I thought Taiwan was under attack. It was scary, even though I could still see people laughing and chatting,” Mr Kim told The Straits Times.

It was only when he saw an alert on his mobile phone that he realised it was part of Taiwan’s annual air defence drill. 

Named Wan An – which translates to everlasting peace – the four-day exercise ending on Thursday is aimed at raising civilian awareness of what to do in an air raid. It involves a one-off 30-minute drill in every major city across the island, including the capital Taipei. 

The exercise coincides with the military’s annual Han Kuang live-fire war games running until Friday, which test the island’s combat readiness in the event of a Chinese invasion. 

While both exercises have been held for decades, the 2023 drills take place amid Beijing’s military manoeuvres around the island, which defence experts say have become increasingly specific. 

“This year’s exercises are of special significance because they come after China conducted two blockade-style military exercises near Taiwan,” said Assistant Professor Lin Ying-yu, a military expert at Taipei’s Tamkang University. 

“China has also been making more military moves near the eastern part of Taiwan, which is new,” he said.

Beijing simulated aerial and naval blockades around the island in response to Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen’s meetings with United States House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in April 2023, as well as his predecessor Nancy Pelosi in August 2022.

China sees Taiwan as its own territory, and views such meetings as an infringement on its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

In April 2023, the Chinese aircraft carrier Shandong also conducted drills off eastern Taiwan for the first time, which raised fresh concerns, as that part of the island had long been seen as a safe haven for the island’s forces.

Taiwan’s war games in 2023 are focusing on securing key infrastructure and simulating responses to a potential Chinese invasion based on some of these new threats, Prof Lin said, such as keeping sea lanes open in the event of a blockade.

“When the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) changes its military threats, it is crucial that our military adapts its response as well,” he said. 

For the first time, Taiwan’s busiest international gateway, Taoyuan International Airport, located west of Taipei, also became the scene of a simulated Chinese invasion. 

On Wednesday morning, dozens of curious onlookers gathered at the airport’s observation deck to watch military helicopters in the sky and soldiers on the tarmac as they engaged in a 40-minute-long anti-takeover drill.

Prof Lin said that events in Ukraine offered valuable lessons for this particular drill, when an unexpected Ukrainian resistance foiled Russia’s plans of a quick capitulation of the capital Kyiv during the Battle of Antonov Airport in February 2022.

“That airport is about 10km outside of Kyiv, and would have allowed Russia to airlift more troops and equipment to threaten the city. Taoyuan is also just outside Taipei, so the threat is similar,” he said.

Back in Kaohsiung, Mr Kim followed the crowd when the air raid siren sounded, and moved into an underground shopping mall, which serves as an air-raid shelter.

Shuffling beside him were dozens of local office workers who had just ended their lunch break. They appeared calm, with some sipping on their post-lunch coffees and bubble teas. 

Sales assistant Wu Huei-ru, 31, said there was no need to panic as she had been doing this yearly for as long as she could remember.

She deemed the drills necessary. 

“China’s threats feel much closer now. Every day, the news talks about how Chinese ships and aircraft are crossing the median line,” she said. “Even if there’s no attack, this is good practice for how to evacuate in some natural disaster emergencies.”

Taiwan is dealing with the effects of the passing Typhoon Doksuri this week, categorised at the second-strongest typhoon level by the local weather bureau. On Thursday, businesses and schools in southern Taiwan were shut, while hundreds of domestic flights were cancelled.

Earlier in the week, the military had cancelled some of its drills for safety reasons in anticipation of the typhoon.