China: July 21, 2004

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For the first time in 26 years, Taiwan included actual use of superhighways, as secondary air fields for combat aircraft, in their military exercises.  Two Mirage 2000 fighters landed on a highway, were serviced, and took off again. Parts of Taiwan's system of superhighways were designed just for this purpose, but actual use of the highways during training exercises has lapsed because the Defense Ministry did not want to block traffic. This particular training exercise was done more for diplomatic reasons, to remind China that Taiwan had many defensive capabilities.