Taipei Spent 10 Days in August Rehearsing a War With Beijing in Taiwan

Its annual Han Kuang exercise in 2026 simulated a blockade, attacks on critical infrastructure, disrupted internet, and the transition from peacetime to full-scale conflict. Beijing waited until the final day to issue its first official comment, dismissing the drills as a "wasteful charade. The People's Liberation Army (PLA) remains active around Taiwan, but the balance of pressure has shifted.

In the first half of 2026, PLA fighter-jet activity around Taiwan fell to a three-year low, a decline that sits uneasily with the assumption that Beijing is steadily escalating military preparations for reunification. While fighter jet numbers dropped, Taipei recorded 55 sightings of mainland Chinese government vessels around the island in June, including coast guard and research ships. That was 83 percent more than in May and 120 percent more than a year earlier. China has also begun coast guard patrols east of Taiwan, describing them not as military operations but as "routine law-enforcement patrols in waters under Chinese jurisdiction.