China said on Saturday (July 4 2026) it had launched a new coast guard patrol east of Taiwan, replacing a task force whose presence off the island’s ‌coast has angered Taipei and caused alarm in some Western capitals.

China’s military operates almost daily around Taiwan, which Beijing views as its own ‌territory. But China has begun using its coast guard to enforce its ‌territorial ⁠claims in what Taiwan calls “lawfare” to claim a legal basis for Chinese ⁠actions.

The fleet will conduct “law enforcement patrols” in the area, China’s Coast Guard said in a statement, adding it would strengthen such patrols in what it called China’s jurisdictional waters.

The coast guard will “firmly safeguard ​China’s territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and ‌interests”, it added.

Second Patrol in a month

Taiwan’s Coast Guard said it was tracking two Chinese ships and had prepositioned two of its own to sail alongside and monitor them.

“As of mid-morning the two Chinese ships were 54 ‌nautical miles east of Taiwan’s Hualien, home to a major air base, ​but outside of restricted waters,” it said in a statement.

Taiwan’s Coast Guard will “continue to employ all necessary measures to forcefully expel Chinese ⁠vessels harassing our waters, steadfastly defend national sovereignty, and ensure the security of our maritime domains”.

This is the second time in roughly a month that China, which views democratically ‌governed Taiwan as its own territory, has sent coast guard ships into the waters off Taiwan’s east coast. It risks escalating a diplomatic dispute that has drawn in the U.S., France, Germany and Britain.

China said the first operation in June was in response to an announcement by Japan and the Philippines that they would begin formal talks on their maritime boundaries, which Beijing viewed as involving Chinese waters ‌off Taiwan.

Taiwan said on Wednesday (July 1 2026) that Taiwanese ships off the east coast should ignore any boarding ​and inspection demands by China’s Coast Guard, and if necessary Taiwanese Coast Guard vessels would intervene to stop it from happening.

China recognises no ⁠claims of sovereignty by Taiwan. Taiwan says China has no right to claim any ⁠sovereignty or jurisdiction over the island or its waters.

On Thursday (July 2 2026), China’s Ministry of Natural Resources published in English what it called a “legal opinion” on ‌Japan-Philippines maritime boundary talks.

The two countries should have talks with China on the issue and not engage with Taiwan, the opinion said. “All other states shall refrain from ​providing assistance to Japan and the Philippines.”

China said ​on Wednesday (June 17, 2026) that it will take countermeasures in response to ‌a new Taiwan government website for Chinese nationals ​to report intelligence tips, saying the site ⁠exposed Taipei’s “confrontational mindset”.

Taiwan and China, which views the democratically governed island as its own territory, have long spied on ‌each other, and Taiwan in particular has reported an increased number of Chinese espionage cases.

Taiwan’s National ‌Security Bureau unveiled the new website on Sunday (June 14), ‌explaining ⁠it was offering a secure channel ⁠to what it said was an increasing number of people who are fed up with China’s system and want change.

Speaking at a ​regular news conference in ‌Beijing, Chen Binhua, a spokesperson for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, said Taiwan was engaging in “intelligence theft, infiltration, and sabotage activities, escalating cross-strait confrontation and undermining cross-strait relations.

“This ‌fully exposes their pro-Taiwan independence stance, their stubbornness, ​confrontational mindset, and refusal to change course,” he said.

“We strongly condemn this and will ⁠resolutely take countermeasures,” Mr. Chen added, without giving details.

Chinese citizens, organisations, companies and other groups all have a responsibility ‌and obligation to safeguard security, he said.

“For those who provide intelligence to Taiwan’s intelligence agencies in a way that constitutes a crime, the relevant departments will pursue legal responsibility in accordance with the law.”

Taiwan said its new intelligence-gathering programme was following the lead of ‌agencies in countries such as the U.S., Britain and Israel.

The website ​is blocked in China, though many Chinese use VPNs to access other blocked sites ⁠such as Western social media and search engines.

China has tried ⁠similar tactics itself. In 2024, China announced an email address where people could report tip-offs about ‌crimes committed by Taiwan “separatists”.

Taiwan’s government rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims, saying only the island’s people can decide ​their future.

Beijing banned four New Zealand lawmakers from travelling to China for a year and demanded they apologise because they visited Taiwan on a Parliamentary trip, according to a message from the Chinese embassy conveyed via Parliamentary officials and shown to the press on Thursday (June 4, 2026).

Taiwan expresses concern after China calls island biggest risk in U.S.-China relations

“China has hit lawmakers from other countries with sanctions related to contact with Taiwan before, but it’s the first time for New Zealand Parliamentarians,” the government in Wellington said. Beijing has been increasing pressure in recent years on the democratically governed island that it claims as its own territory.

Two lawmakers reached by the press on Thursday (June 4, 2026) rejected the demand for an apology, while the other two could not be immediately reached. New Zealand’s government said it would express concern about the travel bans to Beijing.

The elected officials visited Taipei in May, as New Zealand Parliamentarians have done “for decades,” a spokesperson for Foreign Minister Winston Peters said in a statement. Beijing says Taipei has no right to conduct foreign relations and views visits by foreign lawmakers to the island as defying China’s claims of sovereignty.

Mr. Peters’ spokesperson said the officials’ visit was “not inconsistent with New Zealand’s One China policy,” which includes acknowledgment of Beijing’s claim that Taiwan is a province of China.

New Zealand is not among the 12 nations worldwide that have diplomatic relations with Taiwan’s government. Emails sent to the lawmakers by New Zealand’s Parliamentary Service, and seen by the press, said that Beijing’s embassy in Wellington had asked for a message to be conveyed to the four officials that they were banned from China, Macau and Hong Kong for one year. “The ban might be rescinded if the lawmakers in question apologised for visiting Taiwan,” the email said.

“China has consistently opposed visits to China’s Taiwan region by members of the legislatures of countries that have established diplomatic relations with China, including New Zealand, and this case is no exception,” a spokesperson for China’s embassy in Wellington said in a statement posted to its website Thursday (June 4, 2026).

“The New Zealand side should not be surprised.” New Zealand officials in Beijing and Wellington would discuss the matter with China “in order to express concern at this departure from past practice and to better understand it,” Mr. Peters’ spokesperson said.

Lawmakers in New Zealand decide individually whether to join delegations travelling abroad and such visits usually include representatives from multiple political parties. Lawmaker Laura McClure from the libertarian Association of Consumers and Taxpayers (ACT) party said that the “demand” for an apology was “frankly insulting” and she wouldn’t give one.

Duncan Webb, from the centre-left Labour Party, said New Zealand valued democratic institutions and the right to engage with partners abroad. “If the cost of doing that is to be excluded from China for a year, I will pay that price,” Mr. Webb said in an email.

Relations between Wellington and Beijing have in recent years been largely positive. China is New Zealand’s largest trading partner and was the first Western country to sign a free trade deal with Beijing. In New Zealand’s nearest neighbouring country, Australia, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said on Thursday (June 4, 2026) that her government too would express concerns about the lawmakers’ bans to Beijing and to China’s mission in Canberra.

“We agree with the principle expressed by New Zealand that Members of Parliament, including the Australian Parliament, are free to make their own decisions about their travel independent of government,” she told a Senate committee in Canberra on Thursday (June 4, 2026). “Placing pressure on parliamentarians is not appropriate,” she added.

U.S. arms sales to Taiwan take years to process ​and are unrelated to the war with Iran, a source familiar ‌with the matter said, after a senior U.S. ​official suggested there was a pause due to the ⁠need to have enough arms for the conflict.

Taiwan, which China views as its own territory, has been waiting for the U.S. to approve ‌an arms sale that Reuters reported could be worth up to $14 billion.

Taiwan’s government says U.S. hasn’t notified it of any pause in a planned $14 billion arms sale

President Donald Trump sowed uncertainty in ‌Taipei by saying, after meeting China’s President Xi Jinping ‌this ⁠month, that he was undecided on whether to approve ⁠the package.

On Thursday (May 21, 2026), acting U.S. Navy Secretary Hung Cao told a Senate Appropriations Defence Subcommittee hearing that there was a pause on arms sales to ​Taiwan to make sure ‌the U.S. had the munitions needed for the Operation Epic Fury attack on Iran.

The source familiar with the matter noted that Mr. Trump has said he would decide on the ‌Taiwan arms sales soon. “These sales take years to ​process and are unrelated to Operation Epic Fury,” the source said, referring to the war the U.S. and ⁠Israel launched in February. “The United States military has more than enough munitions, ammo, and stockpiles to serve all of President Trump’s ‌strategic goals and beyond.”

The U.S. is bound by the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself, and has said since Mr. Trump met Mr. Xi that its policy toward Taiwan remains unchanged.

A White House official told Reuters that, as Mr. Trump has said, he will decide in a fairly short time regarding a new Taiwan arms package, ​and noted the $11 billion package already approved in December. “In his first term, President Trump approved more arms ⁠sales to Taiwan than any other President in history,” the official added.

Taiwan’s ⁠government said on Friday (May 22, 2026) it had not received any information about U.S. arms sales delays. China has repeatedly called ‌for the U.S. to stop arms sales. Taiwan’s government rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims, saying only the Taiwanese people can ​decide their future.

China’s newest and most advanced aircraft carrier, the Fujian, sailed through the Taiwan Strait on Tuesday, Taiwan’s defence ministry said, its first transit of the sensitive waterway since formally entering service last month.

Taiwan, which Beijing views as its territory, reports almost daily Chinese military activity around the island in what Taipei views as an ongoing pressure campaign against the democratically elected government.

In a statement on Wednesday, Taiwan’s defence ministry said the Fujian had transited the strait the previous day and that Taiwan’s forces had monitored it.

The Ministry showed a grainy, black-and-white picture of the carrier with no aircraft on its deck. It did not say where the picture was taken and offered no other details.

China’s Defence Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

China says it alone has sovereignty over the strait, a major maritime artery for freight traffic. Taiwan and the United States say it is an international waterway.

In September, the carrier sailed through the Taiwan Strait and into the disputed South China Sea during trials.

The Fujian is China’s third aircraft carrier, with a flat flight deck and electromagnetic catapults for take-offs that make it a potentially far more powerful naval weapon than China’s first two Russian-designed carriers.

The Fujian will be able to carry significantly more and heavier armed jet fighters than the Liaoning and Shandong carriers, which are smaller and rely on ramps to launch aircraft.

With a flat deck and electromagnetic catapults to launch aircraft, the Fujian is expected to host a larger and wider range of planes than the other two carriers – including early-warning aircraft and, eventually, China’s first carrier-capable stealth jet fighters.

China’s President Xi Jinping attended its commissioning and flag presenting ceremony in the southern island province of Hainan last month and boarded the vessel for an inspection tour.

Taiwan’s government rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims, saying only the island’s people can decide their future

China’s newest aircraft carrier has sailed through the Taiwan Strait, the navy said on Friday (September 12, 2025). The body of water separates China from Taiwan, the self-governing island that Beijing says must come under its control.

The sailing could serve as a warning to the U.S. and others against support for Taiwan, though China played down any such motive.

The Fujian, which is doing sea trials ahead of its commissioning, was heading to the South China Sea to conduct training and scientific experiments, the Navy said in a short post on social media.

The Navy said the carrier’s activities were not targeting anyone else. A social media account affiliated with state media quoted an expert saying the Taiwan Strait was the normal and most reasonable and efficient route for the carrier to reach the South China Sea.

It was the first time the Fujian had passed through the strait, the post by the Yuyuantantian account said.

The U.S. Navy sends warships through the strait periodically, as do some of its allies, in a warning to Beijing against any attempt to use force to establish its claim to the island.

Taiwan and China split in the civil war that brought the communists to power in 1949. The defeated Nationalist government fled to Taiwan and set up its own government on the island.

The U.S. does not officially recognize the government in Taiwan, but it provides weaponry for its defence and says that any resolution of the differences between China and Taiwan should be peaceful and not by military force.

China’s military said last week that it was on high alert after the Canadian frigate Quebec and the Australian destroyer Brisbane sailed through the strait. It accused the two warships of provocative actions that it said heightened security risks.

Japan’s military said it had spotted the China’s latest carrier for the first time on Thursday afternoon.

The Fujian, together with two guided-missile destroyers, was sailing southwest about 200 kilometres (125 miles) from the disputed Senkaku islands, or the Diaoyu islands in Chinese. Both countries claim the remote and uninhabited territory.

The carrier’s heading at the time was on a course for the Taiwan Strait.