TAICHUNG/PENGHU: Taiwan slowed the mobile Internet in a large swathe of the central part of the island on Monday for the first time during annual war games, simulating communication disruption in the event of a Chinese attack or natural disaster.
Democratically governed Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory, has long lived with the threat of a Chinese invasion and holds air raid drills along with its war games every year, clearing people from the streets for 30 minutes.
During the Internet “throttling” drill, centered on Monday on the major central metropolis of Taichung, only basic mobile phone services worked, though key services, from ATMs and traffic signals, were not affected, and neither were landlines nor fixed Internet services.
Air raid sirens rang out in Taichung and people cleared the streets from 2:30 p.m. (0630GMT). The government has widely flagged the drill, sending on Friday afternoon a text message alert to mobile phones across Taiwan in both Chinese and English and posting details on social media.
Northern Taiwan, including the capital Taipei, will see the same exercise on Thursday.
