| Date | 1 Apr 2025 |
| Tracker | China-Taiwan Tensions |
| Type | Exercise |
| Location |
Taiwan Strait
23.57, 119.58 (approximate) |
The PLA launched unnamed joint drills around Taiwan on April 1, 2025, followed on April 2 by the named Strait Thunder-2025A exercise in the central and southern Taiwan Strait, including live-fire long-range rocket artillery strikes on simulated port and energy targets. Taiwan detected 76 aircraft in the first 24 hours, 37 crossing the median line, while the Shandong carrier group manoeuvred within about 24 nautical miles of Taiwan's coast, its closest recorded approach. Beijing framed the drills as a warning to President Lai.
| Series | That day | Prior 30-day avg | Week after vs before |
|---|---|---|---|
| ADIZ aircraft | 37 +266% | 10.1 | +100% (57 → 114) |
| Aircraft detected | 76 +443% | 14.0 | +141% (79 → 190) |
| PLAN ships | 15 +97% | 7.6 | +18% (62 → 73) |
| Gov ships | 4 +300% | 1.0 | +200% (5 → 15) |
| Date | Type | Incident |
|---|---|---|
| 14 Oct 2024 | Exercise | China's Joint Sword-2024B drills set single-day record of 153 aircraft around Taiwan |
| 9 Dec 2024 | Exercise | China masses near-90-ship fleet around Taiwan in largest maritime deployment in decades |
| 3 Jan 2025 | Infrastructure | Trans-Pacific Express cable damaged off Keelung; Taiwan blames China-linked freighter |
| 25 Feb 2025 | Infrastructure | Taiwan detains China-crewed freighter after Penghu undersea cable severed |
Taiwan's Cabinet on September 3, 2026 approved a NT$145.7 billion (US$4.6 billion) defense allocation within a NT$607.63 billion supplementary budget, covering two classified programs, three uncrewed-systems programs and the Chiang Kung anti-ballistic missile system, pending a legislative vote.
President Lai Ching-te's government will ask the Legislative Yuan for NT$1.1225 trillion ($35.2 billion) in defense spending for 2027, the first Taiwanese military budget above NT$1 trillion and the first to exceed 3 percent of GDP.
Chinese military aircraft entering Taiwan's air defense identification zone fell 52 percent in the first seven months of 2026 compared with the same period of 2025, according to Taiwan's daily defense ministry reports — while PLA Navy vessel sightings dropped just 7 percent.