**China Intensifies Multi‑Faceted Pressure on Taiwan, Taiwan Officials Say**
*Hong Kong, 25 August 2026* – Taiwan’s National Security Council (NSC) warned on Friday that Beijing is mounting a coordinated campaign that combines diplomatic, military, “grey‑zone,” psychological‑operations and espionage tactics aimed at the island.
**Military activity**
Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense reported that People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft made 3,764 incursions into the island’s Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) in 2025, a 22.4 % increase over 2024. The ministry said Chinese warships are regularly present in the vicinity of Taiwan, with five to six vessels typically operating near the island on any given day.
In December 2025 the PLA conducted a simulated air and naval blockade of Taiwan, and Chinese authorities have repeatedly inspected commercial vessels transiting the Taiwan Strait, according to Taiwanese officials.
**Espionage cases**
On 19 August, Kaohsiung’s High Court sentenced two former non‑commissioned officers – one from the army and one from the air force – to prison for passing classified military information to China. Prosecutors said the men were members of the “Wo Long Hui” (Crouching Dragon Society), an organization linked to Chinese intelligence, and that they had attempted to recruit additional service members. The Kaohsiung District Prosecutors’ Office is now investigating more than 20 other military personnel, including several captains, for alleged espionage activities.
**Taiwan’s response**
NSC Secretary‑General Joseph Wu told *Nikkei Asia* that Taiwan is expanding its “whole‑of‑society” resilience, coordinating among government agencies to prepare for both natural and man‑made crises. Wu added that the island is strengthening asymmetric warfare capabilities and that “the undeniable fact is Taiwan has never been under PRC rule since its founding on 1 October 1949. That is the status quo.”
**Expert commentary**
Grant Newsham, senior research fellow at the Japan Forum for Strategic Studies, said, “When Xi Jinping says he will take Taiwan – by force if necessary – we should take him at his word. A far greater sense of urgency to prepare for war is needed in the United States and the free world.” Newsham added that a “normal relationship with the PRC is impossible” and warned that “the PRC is a totalitarian, expansionist dictatorship.”
Malcolm Davis, senior analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, warned that the United States’ recent reduction in freedom‑of‑navigation operations (FONOPs) in the Taiwan Strait could be perceived as a weakening of U.S. resolve. Citing a Heritage Foundation study, Davis noted that publicly declared U.S. warship transits through the strait have fallen by roughly 50 % between the first and second Trump administrations.
The Council on Foreign Relations reported that the United States “is increasingly ill‑equipped to deter or defeat Chinese aggression in the Western Pacific,” citing shortages of critical munitions and the redeployment of key assets such as the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit and the aircraft carrier *USS George Washington* to the Middle East.
Andrew Erickson, professor of strategy at the U.S. Naval War College’s China Maritime Studies Institute, said that Taiwan remains a “linchpin” of the First Island Chain and that “PLA sources similarly emphasise Taiwan’s supreme strategic value.” Erickson warned that control of Taiwan would allow China to forward‑base submarines on the island’s east coast, potentially altering regional naval
Article and image source: taiwansun.com
