China restarts large-scale military drills around Taiwan after sudden hiatus.
Taiwan has detected a resumption of large-scale Chinese military drills in the Taiwan
Strait, including 26 sorties between March 14 and March 15. The Taiwanese National Defense
Ministry announced the spike on March 15 in a regular update on Chinese military activities
in the Strait. The Chinese military had suddenly gone quiet in the region on February 27,
when Taiwan reported no Chinese military aircraft. This pause lasted until March 7.
In the week since, Taiwan has typically detected sorties of two or three aircraft.
Between March 14 and March 15, Taiwan detected 26 military aircraft,
16 of which crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait and seven ships.
The Chinese Communist Party considers Taiwan its territory despite never having controlled
the self-ruled island. CCP leader Xi Jinping has stated that one of his top priorities is
seizing the island and has ordered the Chinese military to be capable of doing so by 2027.
The sudden pause in Chinese military drills coincided with the start of the war in Iran,
and its resumption of large-scale exercises follows Taiwan's decision to authorize an
arms package in advance with the United States. Taiwan's Parliament on March 12 authorized
$9 billion for four arms packages with the United States ahead of deadlines.
US lawmakers had raised concerns that Taiwan could not meet its defense spending goals as
deadlines to ink the arms deals neared. The deals include M109A7 self-propelled howitzers,
Lockheed Martin-made javelin missiles, tow anti-tank missiles, and high mobility artillery rocket systems.
Together, they make up the bulk of an $11.1 billion arm sale announced by the Trump
Administration in December 2025. At a press conference on March 14, Taiwanese President
Leiching T.E. said Taiwan could afford the $40 billion defense budget because of the positive
state of the economy. With Taiwan's economic growth, we can absolutely afford it, he said.
If we look at the United States National Security Strategy, the US emphasizes collective
defense and burden sharing. Taiwan's economy has been growing under booming demand for advanced
semiconductors used for artificial intelligence, which Leichingt said would also be factored into
Taiwan's defense plans. In other words, our defense budget is not only a budget for national
defense, but also a budget for economic and industrial development, he said. This also comes as
US and Chinese officials meet in Paris for another round of trade talks ahead of US President Donald
Trump's trip to China at the end of the month. The US delegation is led by Treasury Secretary
Scott Bessent and Trade Representative Jamison Greer, and the Chinese team is headed by Vice
Premier Halifeng, a member of the CCP's powerful Politburo and the nation's economic czar.
The trade talk started on the morning of March 15 that the headquarters of the organization
for economic cooperation and development in France, according to Chinese state media outlet
Xinhua. Frank Fong, Dorothy Lee, and Reuters contributed to this report.
