Ex-Pacific commander Blair praises Taiwan turning Han Kuang into whole-of-society drills

Former U.S. Pacific commander and Obama-era director of national intelligence Dennis Blair on 14 October 2026 praised Taiwan for turning its annual Han Kuang war games from a purely military drill into a nation-defensive, whole-of-society exercise, speaking virtually to an Ocean Affairs Council sea-lane security conference in Taipei.

Blair, a retired Navy admiral who led U.S. Pacific Command before leaving active duty in 2002, said the shift would mobilise all of Taiwan's capabilities and show partners that Taipei is determined to defend itself. That demonstration, he argued, would help convince like-minded countries and regional partners to assist in an emergency, and he added that helping Taiwan is very much in the interests of seafaring nations.

He warned that if Taiwan were bullied into giving up parts of its sovereignty, Japan, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Korea and others in the region would have to wonder whether they were next. Focus Taiwan and the Taipei Times both reported the remarks from the 2026 International Conference on Sea Lane Security.

Han Kuang has been Taiwan's primary readiness exercise since 1984, originally drawing only military personnel from all services to prepare for a possible Chinese invasion. In recent years the drills have expanded to include whole-of-society defence resilience and civil-military operations, a change Blair called a great decision.

Beyond the exercise reforms, Blair urged Taipei to keep monitoring maritime activity and enforcing laws in waters under its jurisdiction as China continues to send civilian and government vessels into Taiwan's waters. He also pressed for an active public-diplomacy campaign like the Philippines' approach in South China Sea disputes, saying Chinese claims and operations are both illegal and inept and that Taiwan must not let China set a new normal in international perception.

At the opening of the one-day conference, National Security Council deputy secretary-general Lii Wen thanked like-minded partners for opposing China's destabilising actions in the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea. He called for stronger early-warning cooperation and for partners to maintain maritime presence through freedom of navigation operations and joint work against maritime crime.

Blair's Han Kuang comments are a separate strand from earlier 14 October coverage of his grey-zone ranking advice at the same conference, which focused on prioritising Chinese maritime pressure rather than chasing every move. The whole-of-society praise goes specifically to how Taiwan now designs its flagship annual drills and how that posture may shape partner willingness to help.

Taken together, the former Pacific commander framed Taiwan's expanded Han Kuang model as both a domestic readiness choice and a signal to the region: mobilising society as well as the armed forces, enforcing maritime jurisdiction, and keeping public messaging sharp enough that Beijing cannot quietly redefine the status quo at sea.