Taiwan began a combat readiness exercise on Monday that aims to boost the military’s ability to quickly move to a wartime footing, amid sustained pressure from the mainland.

The Chinese mainland’s increasingly frequent air and naval operations in the region have blurred the line between peacetime and wartime and mean that the Taiwanese military will have less time to respond to a crisis, according to officials.

The Immediate Combat Readiness Exercise, which runs through Friday, was designed to familiarise troops with battlefield conditions and combat procedures, Taiwan’s defence ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

The exercise would focus on the period immediately before a conflict begins, testing whether units could quickly prepare and deploy after receiving orders, defence officials said.

Local television showed army, navy and air force units occupying tactical positions, protecting key infrastructure and testing command-and-control and logistical support systems.

The ministry announced the exercise hours after reporting that the PLA had conducted its second “long-range maritime training mission” of the year on Sunday.