Taiwan Monitors Chinese Military Activity Amid New US Senate Bill for Cable Protection

On Friday, Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense (MND) announced that it had detected a Chinese aircraft along with nine naval vessels operating in its surrounding territorial waters by 6 a.m. local time. The aircraft crossed the median line and entered Taiwan's northern Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ). The MND used social media to communicate that it had monitored one sortie of People's Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft that crossed into this zone and was actively responding to the situation.

The previous day, Taiwan had already noted significant military activity, having detected 12 sorties from PLA aircraft and seven vessels from the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) in the vicinity. According to MND updates, ten of these aircraft violated the median line, entering Taiwan’s southwestern ADIZ. The ongoing monitoring and appropriate responses were emphasized in the posts made by the ministry.

Amid these tensions, a new bipartisan bill titled the Taiwan Undersea Cable Resilience Initiative Act was introduced in the US Senate. This initiative, championed by Senators John Curtis and Jacky Rosen, seeks to safeguard Taiwan's undersea communication systems from potential disruptions attributed to Chinese military strategies. The act calls for various US government departments to enhance cable security through improved monitoring, rapid-response measures, and international collaboration against sabotage which has been described as part of China's grey zone tactics. Since February 2023, there have been at least 11 reported disruptions to undersea cables near Taiwan, largely associated with vessels believed to be engaged in deliberate interference.