China’s coercion of Taiwan isn’t a new trend. For decades, the CCP has subjected Taiwan, its government, its people and its international partners to a wide range of tactics designed to alter the status quo and accelerate Beijing’s goal of unification.  

Under Xi Jinping, that campaign has intensified and expanded. Beijing now employs military and paramilitary actions, economic pressure, espionage and interference, information and narrative warfare, cyber operations, diplomatic coercion, and lawfare. Most of those measures remain below the threshold of open conflict, and are carefully managed to avoid sparking a crisis that could escalate into war. ASPI’s State of the Strait on Substack tracks that pressure campaign, providing weekly updates on China’s coercive actions across all those areas.

This chapter focuses on China’s military coercion of Taiwan. It examines the daily presence of Chinese military forces around the island, as well as the large-scale exercises launched since 2022. Together, those activities are used to intimidate Taiwan, undermine its sovereignty and prepare the PLA for potential future conflict.