Inside the Han Kuang — how Taiwan prepares for the world's most consequential war

M60A3 tanks fire during a live-fire drill as part of the Han Kuang military exercise in Penghu. Ann Wang/REUTERS Caught between two superpowers, Taiwan stands to be the world's most dangerous flash point. The island democracy of 23.2 million people knows its precarious position. For the last four decades, the global semiconductor hub has conducted annual military drills focused on staving off a cross-strait invasion by Beijing, which considers the island part of its territory and refuses to rule out a seizure by military force. The Han Kuang exercises, originally meant to display Taiwan's mettle to mainland China and the world, are quickly taking on a new form. Taipei is now more keen to use the drills as a realistic stress test for its outnumbered forces and civilian institutions. Force-on-force combat and audacious beach landings that characterized previous Han Kuangs have given way to an emphasis on smaller skirmishes, logistics missions, and ambush setups. The change comes as a proverbial, though hypothetical, deadline for Taiwan looms: China's Xi Jinping has ordered his country's troops to be ready for military action by 2027. While analysts around the world don't see how Beij