Overview
- Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense reported on Sunday that it detected two PLA aircraft sorties, eight PLAN vessels and four official ships operating near the island and that its forces monitored and responded.
- The ministry said one recent patrol included aircraft crossing the median line into Taiwan’s southwestern air defence identification zone, a move Taiwan says tests escalation boundaries.
- Taiwan will begin a five-day “Immediate Combat Readiness Exercise” on Monday to rehearse rapid wartime mobilization, joint command and logistical sustainment using real troops, terrain and equipment.
- Separately, Taipei has been advancing force posture with repeated sea trials of its first domestically built submarine and earlier live firing of a U.S.-made HIMARS rocket system.
- Chinese authorities gave no public comment on the ministry’s reports and limited confirmation exists for Beijing’s claim this week of asserting jurisdiction over nearby waters, a development that could raise diplomatic and operational tensions.