TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Troops on Penghu are training for a potential war with China, rehearsing how to repel an invasion fleet and hold the archipelago that military planners see as the likely first target in any People‘s Liberation Army assault, Reuters reported Friday.
Penghu — a cluster of about 90 islands and islets 50 km off Taiwan’s southwest coast — is seen by senior Taiwanese security officials and defense experts as a critical frontline that would be hit in the first wave of any attempted Chinese invasion.
Holding Penghu allows Taiwan to resist a potential PLA invasion fleet heading toward the main island. It would then be able to threaten Chinese forces assembling along the coast before they even set out across the strait, a senior Taiwanese official told Reuters.
“If Penghu were taken, the entire Taiwan Strait would effectively fall into China’s hands,” the official was quoted as saying.
Sitting at the midpoint of the Taiwan Strait, Penghu gives missile batteries a rare dual-coverage advantage, with launchers able to engage PLA navy vessels approaching from the east and west, Storm Media reported earlier this month.
Citing defense sources, it said mobile launcher vehicles armed with Hsiung Feng II and Hsiung Feng III anti-ship missiles were dispatched to the archipelago on Aug. 9, the fifth day of the Han Kuang 42 drills. They practiced rapid deployment and tactical firing positions to verify coordination between coastal and Naval elements.
“If PLA ships tried to attack Taiwan while bypassing Penghu, these ships could be struck by missiles from Penghu,” Reuters reported the Institute for National Defense and Security Research’s Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲) as saying. “That forces the PLA to attack Penghu before it can attack Taiwan.”
Beyond military drills, Reuters said Taipei is bolstering civilian resilience on the islands. About 1,200 Penghu residents have been certified under the government’s whole-of-society defense resilience program, trained in first aid, ration distribution, fortification work and countering enemy propaganda.
Local authorities have signed agreements with grocery stores, pharmacies and construction firms to secure emergency supplies. Some officials are advising households to keep more than half a month’s worth of food and essentials at home.
In a 2025 war game involving retired US, Taiwanese and Japanese officers, Penghu fell within a day after simulated Chinese long-range strikes. The result has since been factored into adjustments to defensive planning, according to a summary report that Reuters said it had seen.
Despite the risks, many residents say they are prepared to resist. “If my homeland were invaded, there’s no way I could just stand by,” a taxi driver on the islands, William Chen, was reported as saying.
