An aerial view of Taipei, Taiwan Province. Photo: VCG

At 2:30 pm on Thursday, Taipei resident Michael Chou received a mobile alert, stating that due to "simulated air attack on communications infrastructure," mobile network access would be affected. 

It turned out to be a mobile internet disruption drill in the northern part of the Taiwan island. As part of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities' "urban resilience drill," the exercise was designed to simulate scenarios of limited communication resources amid major disasters or wartime conditions and verify public‑service backup capabilities, according to Taiwan-based media. 

Yet in the view of observers, this performative farce not only disrupts residents' daily lives, but also acts as a tool for DPP authorities to hype up crises and amplify cross‑Straits confrontation. It essentially serves their scheme of "seeking independence by force" and narrow‑minded electoral interests.

As reported by udn.com, the exercise ran from 2:30 pm to 3 pm. When the alert was triggered, local police diverted pedestrians and vehicles to the roadside and urged the public to take shelter indoors. With mobile network speeds throttled, most people at the site lost mobile internet access; many waited out the drill indoors with available Wi‑fi and passed the time by chatting or reading. 

Chou told the Global Times that 4G and 5G connections were heavily throttled during the drill, though Wi‑Fi and text messaging still worked. Even so, the exercise has created real‑world inconveniences, disrupting takeout delivery, transport‑related ticketing and outdoor emergency rescue services.

Local legislator Ko Ju-chun from the Chinese Kuomintang party was also among those opposing the drill. He accused the DPP for abusing emergency alerts which only exposed the public to inconvenience. He noted that a genuine network‑resilience drill should focus on "how the public obtain information after networks go down," yet local people still had no clear idea how to respond in such circumstances, per Taiwan-based media. 

"The so‑called mobile internet disruption drill has very limited practical combat value. And if a military conflict breaks out across the Taiwan Straits, the real‑world scenario would be far more complex than the DPP authorities have envisioned, with much higher costs to bear," Zhang Wensheng, a deputy dean and a professor at the Taiwan Research Institute at Xiamen University, told the Global Times.

"The DPP authorities want the drill to stoke tensions, drumming up public backing for its combative defense policies and higher military budgets. Yet it fears over‑hyping the specter of war would disrupt daily life and erode its popular support, hence this superficial, showpiece drill," said the expert. 

According to Zhang, the DPP authorities also intend to test Taiwan residents' tolerance threshold. It seeks to observe whether the public will passively acquiesce or push back strongly, so as to assess the mobilization effect of its narratives of "resisting mainland to protect Taiwan" and "rejecting reunification by force."

Prior to the mobile internet disruption drill in northern parts of Taiwan island, seven counties and cities in the central Taiwan region held the same drill on Monday afternoon.

Many residents have questioned why the southern region was exempt. DPP officials claimed southern Taiwan had suffered real‑life communication outages in past years and that a drill in the southern part of the island scheduled to take place at 10 am, when the Stock Exchange of Taiwan region is open, could disrupt real-time stock transactions. 

"This drill is utterly absurd," Chou said, "The DPP probably figures that if anything goes wrong in central and northern Taiwan, it does not matter, local mayors would take the blame."

Echoing Chou, Zhang said that the DPP authorities do not want drill‑related disruptions to harm their core support base in southern Taiwan, particularly Tainan and Kaohsiung. By contrast, jurisdictions across central and northern Taiwan include many areas ruled by the KMT, which are being used as test subjects for the exercise. 

By striking a posture of "combat readiness," hyping up cross‑Straits confrontation and ramping up ideological mobilization, the DPP aims to serve its interests in the year‑end local elections, he added.

"However, voters always pay more attention to livelihoods, the economy and governance performance in local election. If DPP's political manipulation go too far, it will backfire," Zhang said. "The overwhelming majority of Taiwan compatriots refuse to become cannon‑fodder for secessionists."

The DPP authorities do not hesitate to use the well‑being of Taiwan residents and cross‑Straits peace and stability as bargaining chips for their own political interests, fully laying bare its true colors as a troublemaker, the expert warned.