Taiwan boosts combat‑readiness drills amid shrinking warning time for Chinese attack

Taiwan’s defence minister Wellington Koo warned that the window to detect a Chinese strike is shrinking and announced a five‑day “immediate combat readiness” exercise. The drills simulate a rapid shift from peacetime to wartime, including firing U.S.–made HIMARS rockets into the Taiwan Strait and testing response under a decentralized regional command.

China’s newest aircraft carrier sailed through the Strait during the same period, and a spokesperson for Beijing’s Taiwan Affairs Office accused the drills of showing the Democratic Progressive Party’s “malicious intent to seek independence by force.” Taiwan’s president Lai Ching‑te has pledged to raise defence spending to 5 % of GDP by 2030, a plan backed by the United States, which continues to supply arms and encourages regional allies to maintain the status quo of the first island chain.