Theme: Taiwan

Taiwan’s armed forces want to acquire more than 1,400 coastal surveillance and reconnaissance drones, over 200,000 coastal attack drones and 1,320 one-way attack uncrewed surface vessels. Parliament passed on August 27 the law providing NT$ 240 billion over six years, with procurement priority for domestically produced low-cost, high-performance uncrewed systems. US company Maritime Tactical Systems announced that Taiwan’s coast guard will buy 25 of its uncrewed vessels, to be made in the United States and Taiwan, and the country aims to become an Asian hub for drone production free of Chinese components, capitalizing on its lead in artificial intelligence and semiconductors.

Beijing expanded its maritime presence around Taiwan, deploying coast guard patrols from the island’s eastern approaches to waters near Quemoy and remote Dongsha Island, the South China Morning Post reported. Taiwan’s Coast Guard Administration said late on Saturday that it had deployed the patrol vessel Jian to shadow the Chinese formation, led by the Hushi. Taipei denounced the patrols as an effort to “manufacture a fictional administrative presence” and said Beijing’s actions violate international law and undermine regional peace and stability.

Taiwan’s Coast Guard said China is harassing ships with its latest patrol off the island’s east coast and trying to exert a fictional jurisdiction. Two Chinese ships took part in the operation, and the Coast Guard sent its own vessels to monitor them, according to Reuters, in a text published by The Hindu. The Coast Guard said China’s “attempts to harass ships at sea through radio communications are a clear expansion of power that violate international law, undermine regional peace and stability, and deviate from reality.”

The commander of the United States (US) Army in the Pacific, General Ronald Clark, said that the 2027 window for a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan remains valid as a readiness benchmark. “The question is, is the window still valid? The answer for us at USARPAC is yes,” he told an industry conference in Hawaii on Tuesday, Breaking Defense reported; according to the commander, US Army Pacific is positioning equipment, materiel and personnel on a rotational basis across the first and second island chains west of the International Date Line, with the goal of being ready by April 2, 2027.

Taiwan’s defence minister Wellington Koo accused China of waging cognitive warfare after Beijing marked the anniversary of the island’s handover with satellite images of Taipei and a military propaganda poster, according to Reuters.

Mainland China's state media and armed forces staged a concerted campaign on Sunday to mark Taiwan Restoration Day, the anniversary of the end of Japanese rule, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported. State broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) released a 42-second video with aerial views of Taiwan captured by the commercial Jilin-1 satellite constellation, captioned “This is the Taiwan province of China.”

Typhoon Champi swept past Taiwan on Saturday, killing one person and injuring more than 500, as powerful winds and torrential rain brought down trees, disrupted flights and knocked out electricity to thousands of homes, according to the Times of India. Taiwan's fire department said 527 people were injured and kept the death toll at one, a man swept away by waves on Liuqiu Island. State-owned utility Taipower said more than 167,000 homes had lost electricity at one point.

Typhoon Champi struck Taiwan, killing one person and injuring at least 350, as authorities warned of “destructive winds” and instructed people to stay indoors, according to Al Jazeera. The storm swept past the island’s northeast on Friday, toppling trees, shutting shops and schools, cutting power to thousands of households and forcing more than 4,300 people to evacuate from their homes.

Taiwan’s coast guard identified the suspected militia fishing boat as Minfudingyu 07902, which came as close as about 2.7 nautical miles outside the island’s restricted waters on August 16, confirming details in a Reuters report, according to The Hindu.

Almost all of Taiwan shut down on Friday ahead of the arrival of Typhoon Champi, which is forecast to bring strong winds and torrential rain, though the storm is weakening and is not expected to make direct landfall on the island, the Straits Times reported. The transport ministry said all 262 domestic flights were cancelled for Friday, along with more than 350 international ones.

Chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is exploring alternatives to rare-earth components in factory equipment, according to three people familiar with the matter cited by Reuters, in a text republished by WHBL, aiming to reduce the risk that Beijing's export controls could disrupt operations at plants that make the world's most advanced chips. The discussions remain at an early stage and have not yet resulted in a broad rollout of rare-earth-free equipment, according to two of those people.

Taiwan’s defence ministry confirmed for the first time funding for the US Indo-Pacific Command to send a retired general and observers to the Han Kuang war games, according to the South China Morning Post (SCMP). NT$82.4 million (US$2.5 million) was allocated for the 2026–2027 program, with NT$41.219 million this year.

Taiwan said on Sunday, October 18, that it had driven away 16 Chinese vessels, including coast guard, research and fishing ships, involved in simultaneous operations that the island’s coast guard calls “maritime harassment”. According to the statement, an “unusually large” number of Chinese vessels took part in the coordinated operations around Taiwan’s main island and Pratas, a disputed island to the southwest.

Taiwan will acquire a NT$46.55 million (US$1.45 million) artificial intelligence (AI) system that analyzes satellite imagery covering 100 sq km (38.6 square miles) within minutes and identifies People’s Liberation Army ships, aircraft and missile launchers, according to the South China Morning Post, which cites the island’s defense ministry. The contract took effect on September 25, and the system is expected to be completed by the end of April.

Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te said on Saturday that Taiwan seeks to deter war by increasing its defense spending. In his National Day speech, he said that the aim of increasing investment in national defense is to deter war, not provoke it, according to the Japan Times.

Paraguay’s technology minister, Gustavo Villate, said on Thursday that sanctions imposed by Beijing would only accelerate joint projects with Taiwan and wrote in a social media post that the relationship with Taipei would “never be on the negotiating table”. On Monday, China sanctioned Villate and Belize’s foreign minister over the two countries’ ties with Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its own territory.

US President Donald Trump said at a rally on Tuesday that Taiwan has agreed to buy 30% of the liquefied natural gas from a pipeline project in Alaska, but the deal terms were not immediately clear, according to Reuters. According to Agence France-Presse (AFP), in a text published by The Hindu, Trump also said that Taiwan would invest $4.4 billion into the project, as Taipei seeks Washington’s favor amid tensions with China.

China imposed sanctions from Monday on Paraguay's communications minister and Belize's foreign minister over the two countries' ties with Taiwan, according to Reuters, in a text republished by Internazionale. The measures include barring entry visas to Hong Kong and Macau and prohibiting Chinese organizations and individuals from engaging in transactions, cooperation or other activities, the ministry said in two notices.

Taiwan’s overall military personnel fill rate fell from 88.6 per cent in 2020 to 78.6 per cent in 2024, then dropped further to 75.6 per cent by June, according to the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center, cited by the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te said on National Day that the aim of increasing defense spending is to deter war, not to provoke. Lai's government has earmarked a record NT$1.1 trillion (US$34.5 billion) in defense spending for 2027, more than 3% of GDP. Lai said China continues to press with military and grey-zone activities in an attempt to alter the status quo across the Taiwan Strait.

Japan and the United States will rehearse moving anti-ship missiles, air defences and communications networks onto islands near Taiwan this month in an expanded military exercise, the South China Morning Post reported.

Wanying “Heather” Zhang, a 34-year-old realtor in California, was arrested at Los Angeles airport on October 4, 2026, as she was preparing to board a flight to Shanghai, accused of acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government, according to the Hindustan Times. The FBI says she travelled to Seattle in 2025 at the direction of Chinese officials and later sent photos, video and license plate information of the Taiwanese leader’s son and his family, according to The Hindu. The person being watched was Ting-Yu Lai, an engineer in his 30s who lives in the United States.

The United States delivered to Taiwan the first two new F-16V Block 70 fighter jets, the first of 66 aircraft approved for sale by Washington in 2019, according to RT. The two aircraft arrived on Friday.

The first two F-16V Block 70 fighter jets from a batch of 66 US-made planes ordered by Taiwan in 2019 landed at Chihhang Air Base near Taitung on the island’s mountainous east coast at midday Friday local time. The aircraft flew via Hawaii and Guam, according to DW, and the jets, made by Lockheed Martin as part of an $8 billion sale agreed seven years ago, are equipped with advanced avionics and radar systems.

Taiwan’s first two F-16V Block 70 fighter jets are expected to arrive within a few days, according to Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator Wang Ting-yu. Wang said the two aircraft have taken off from Hawaii and will land at Chihhang Air Base in Taitung either Friday or Saturday. The sale of 66 F-16V Block 70s was approved by the United States in 2019, with deliveries originally scheduled to begin in 2023.

Taiwan’s defence minister said US arms sales to the island remain unchanged and that Taipei remains in talks with Washington over individual deals, on Tuesday, September 29, 2026, according to The Associated Press (AP), in a text republished by The Hindu. A record 14 billion arms package to the island, however, remains stalled. The United States paused the 14 billion deal after a May summit in Beijing between Trump and Xi Jinping, and China pressed Washington to halt the arms sales to the island, according to AP, in a text published by Mercury News.

Taiwan aims to quadruple its stockpile of combat ammunition from 30 days to 120 days under a six-year, NT$27.59 billion procurement program, according to the Taipei Times. The Ministry of National Defense (MND) allocated NT$7.3 billion for the program after the Executive Yuan approved it on Sept. 3, according to the paper. The program must be accelerated to replenish ammunition depleted during military exercises and drills, which have become more frequent in the past few years, according to strategic planning director Lieutenant General Huang Wen-chi, cited by the paper.

The US ambassador to China, David Perdue, said on “Fox News Sunday” that President Donald Trump asked Xi whether he would like to buy American weapons. According to Perdue, Trump kept saying that “we sell arms to other people around the world” while discussing Xi’s state visit to Washington last week. He did not elaborate on whether the offer came during that visit, during Trump’s trip to Beijing in May or another time, and did not mention whether Xi responded. The ambassador also said Trump and Xi continue to talk about future US weapons sales to Taiwan.

The US ambassador to Beijing, David Perdue, said in a Fox News interview that President Donald Trump asked Xi Jinping whether he wanted to buy American weapons. The remark came while answering about the administration’s stance on Taiwan’s independence, according to the Daily Beast. Trump and Xi agreed to meet again at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders’ meeting in Shenzhen in November and at the Group of Twenty (G20) summit in Miami in December, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.

The Typhon missile systems will stay in Japan after the exercises. According to the Russian agency TASS, Japan’s Defense Ministry said the Typhon systems deployed at Kanoya air field in Kagoshima Prefecture during the June and September exercises will be transferred to storage at Kadena air force base in Okinawa by mid-October, aboard C-17 transport aircraft. The ministry said the American side explained that storing the equipment at Kadena is not a permanent deployment in Japan. For the Daily Sun, the longer Typhon presence in the country creates a distributed network of strike, air-defence and targeting capabilities that complicates Chinese military operations around Taiwan.

According to The New York Times, Xi Jinping sought to tilt Donald Trump’s stance on America’s place in Asia. According to analysts cited by Reuters, in a text republished by GV Wire, US allies fear that Trump may offer concessions to Xi over Taiwan and trade in return for an economic win with Beijing.

Taiwan’s deputy foreign minister, Francois Wu, said on Saturday that providing weapons to Taiwan to protect its freedom and provide semiconductors to the world is in the United States’ national interest, according to Reuters, in a text republished by The Straits Times. Xi Jinping told Donald Trump in Washington on Thursday that he hoped the United States would adhere to the “correct position” of opposing Taiwan independence. The United States ambassador to China, David Perdue, told CNBC on Friday that there has been no change in Trump’s Taiwan policy, including the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act, which mandates arms sales to the island.

Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs called Chinese President Xi Jinping’s remarks to Donald Trump in Washington on national reunification and territorial integrity a distortion of the facts, according to Reuters. The ministry said the statements reflect “the consistent Chinese approach of distorting facts and unilaterally conveying its position and claims,” that only the Taiwanese people decide the island’s future, and accused China of disturbing peace and stability, G1 reports. Xi had urged Trump to keep to the “correct position” of opposing Taiwan independence, Reuters added.

United States President Donald Trump and China’s President Xi Jinping met at the White House in Washington on Thursday, September 24, 2026, on the second day of Xi’s three-day state visit — his first to Washington in 11 years, according to Al Jazeera, with Reuters and the Associated Press (AP). China’s state news agency Xinhua, cited by the broadcaster, reported that Xi urged Washington to handle Taiwan prudently and oppose the island’s independence; the White House published no readout of its own. On the war with Iran there was no breakthrough: Xi backed a return by Washington and Tehran to the interim agreement meant to pave the way for a larger deal.

US President Donald Trump hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping at the White House on Thursday, 24 September 2026, in a state visit with artificial intelligence, critical minerals, human rights, tariffs and Taiwan on the agenda. As of the time of writing, the two sides had announced no comprehensive deals on tariffs, rare earths or soybean purchases, and the trade truce between them was extended by two months. Xi told reporters that “achieving the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and making America great again can go hand in hand.”

Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives in Washington on Wednesday, 23 September 2026, for a three-day state visit, with formal talks scheduled for Thursday, 24 September, and a visit to the US National Archives on Friday, 25 September, and is expected to press President Donald Trump to halt arms sales to Taiwan, invoking the third of the joint communiqués the two countries signed in 1982, according to Reuters, which spoke to three sources familiar with the discussions. In that communiqué, Washington said it intended to gradually reduce arms sales to Taiwan and did not seek long-term weapons sales to Taipei; an accompanying memorandum by then president Ronald Reagan conditioned that willingness on China’s continued commitment to a peaceful solution of differences over Taiwan. A package worth about US$ 14 billion in arms for Taiwan has been on hold for months. After the summit with Xi in Beijing in May 2026, Trump said he was keeping the package in abeyance and described it as “a very good negotiating chip”, according to Reuters. The sources said China has also asked the United States to stop deliveries of weapons already ordered by the island, and has offered help in pressing Iran over the war in the Middle East in exchange for concessions. The South China Morning Post, citing sources, reported that Washington is weighing postponing the announcement of new arms sales to Taiwan until after the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Shenzhen in November and the Group of 20 (G20) summit in Florida in December; one source said Trump considered delaying the decision until late 2028 or January 2029 but backed off after loud opposition from China hawks. In Taipei, Le Monde quoted Su Tzu-yun, a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research: “We need to stay alert, but not panic, because the United States’ geopolitical interest remains keeping China at arm’s length from Taiwan.” Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry said it was closely monitoring the talks.