Beijing Orders Live-Fire Ring Around Taiwan After U.S. Green-Lights $600 M Arms Deal

Beijing’s Swift Retaliation

Within hours of Washington approving a fresh $600 million weapons package for Taipei, China’s Eastern Theater Command announced "combat-readiness" drills encircling Taiwan. The exercises—code-named "Joint Sword"—began at dawn Sunday with destroyers slicing through the Taiwan Strait and fighter jets screaming over the median line that once acted as an unofficial buffer.

On the Ground: Kaohsiung’s Port Turns Nervous

"We felt the windows vibrate," fishmonger Lin Chia-hsin told us by the docks of Kaohsiung, Taiwan’s largest port. "Everyone looked at the sky, waiting for the next sonic boom." Local shipping lanes were rerouted; AIS data showed at least 17 commercial vessels hugging Taiwan’s western coast to avoid the restricted zone.

"This is not a routine drill—it’s a message," said Admiral Lee Hsi-min, former chief of Taiwan’s general staff. "Beijing wants to show it can choke us economically and militarily in one move."

Washington’s Calculated Gamble

The State Department counters that the arms sale—60 Harpoon anti-ship missiles and 100 air-to-air Sidewinders—merely "deepens deterrence" under the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act. Yet inside the Pentagon, officials privately worry the timing fuels hawkish factions in both capitals.

• China has flown 312 warplanes into Taiwan’s air-defense zone this month alone.
• The U.S. Navy’s 7th Fleet moved the guided-missile destroyer USS Rafael Peralta east of Taiwan "to monitor developments."
• Taiwan’s stock index dipped 2.4 % on the news before paring losses.

Flashpoint History Repeats

This spiral is familiar: in 1996, Beijing fired missiles into the same waters after President Lee Teng-hui visited the U.S. The difference now—satellite imagery shows China’s newest aircraft carrier, the Fujian, conducting pre-deployment tests in the South China Sea, a floating reminder that the balance is tilting.

What Happens Next

Diplomats scramble to keep lines open. A call between U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi is "expected within days," sources tell us. Meanwhile, Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te convened an emergency security meeting, vowing "not to yield an inch."

Back in Kaohsiung, night markets stay lit, but vendors speak in hushed tones. "We’ve lived through threats before," Lin says, wrapping a customer’s squid. "But this time the sea feels tighter, like the circle is closing."