Taiwanese military conducts live-fire missile tests 

The Taiwanese military showcased its surface-to-air missile forces in live-fire missile drills in the Taiwan Strait as China stepped up maritime patrols and military exercises near Taiwan and Japan.

“Not only is the training of our soldiers very solid but our weapon systems have also been verified as effective in the live-firing process,” Taiwanese Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang told reporters, adding that the interceptors “hit their targets smoothly.”

The publicity around the drills was a rare display for the defense ministry, which has not invited media to view the exercises “in 12 years,” according to the South China Morning Post. The demonstration coincided with multiple overtures to Taiwan’s key unofficial allies, from Japan and South Korea to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, where Taiwanese officials applauded the adoption of a Democratic Party platform that includes a historic endorsement of the Six Assurances that former President Ronald Reagan’s administration offered Taiwan.

“Marking yet another explicit expression of staunch support for Taiwan in the Democratic Party platform, this was also the first time that the platform included a reference to the Six Assurances and a statement on remaining ‘steadfast in America’s commitment to peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait,’” a Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson said in a release Tuesday. “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) sincerely welcomes and appreciates this strong support for Taiwan.”

Reagan gave Taiwan the “Six Assurances” in 1982 as Washington recalibrated its relationship with Taipei after cutting formal diplomatic relations with the island government in 1979. Those assurances, which then-President Donald Trump’s administration declassified in 2020, included a promise that “the United States will never pressure Taiwan to negotiate with Beijing,” where communist authorities claim the island as its sovereign territory despite never having ruled there, among other assurances related to arms sales and the territorial dispute.

“The inclusion of Taiwan-friendly text in the party platform not only reflected the Democratic Party’s unwavering support for Taiwan but also underscored its high regard for peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait,” the release from the Taiwanese foreign ministry reads. “In fact, maintaining cross-strait peace and stability has not only gained support in the United States but also become a matter of international consensus in recent years.”

The accumulation of international statements on the need for stability around Taiwan has been a key priority for the U.S. in recent years as U.S. officials try to assemble a coalition of democratic powers who might help to deter a Chinese invasion of the island. Chinese officials have launched an international campaign to convince the dwindling number of countries that maintain formal ties with Taiwan to sever those relations, as the president of Palau, a Pacific island nation with close ties to Taiwan and the U.S., described in a recent interview.

“They say, why are you torturing yourselves? Just join us and the sky’s the limit,” Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr told the Associated Press last week. “We’ve always had the belief that we should be friends to all and enemies to none. … Our relationship to Taiwan shouldn’t be questioned by anybody.”

Over the weekend, Chinese officials conducted a patrol in the Taiwan Strait to “enhance maritime traffic control and emergency rescue capabilities,” according to a South China Morning Post translation. They also sent a guided missile destroyer and an amphibious assault ship through the international waters between a pair of major Japanese islands.

“China’s naval power is growing, and whether it’s aircraft carriers or amphibious assault ships, they’re not meant to stay close to home,” former Chinese military instructor Song Zhongping told the South China Morning Post. “This small-scale fleet, led by the Type 075 amphibious assault ship, needs to adapt to various environments. It’s not just patrolling near China’s coast but also in the South China Sea and waters near Japan.”

The subsequent Taiwanese military exercise, according to local media, included a test of a “surface-to-surface land-attack cruise missile system” with the range to strike targets in mainland China. However, the military would not confirm that report.

“Some of the tested missiles are more sensitive so we won’t comment on what kind of missiles were used in such drills,” said Sun, the Taiwanese defense ministry spokesman.