Taipei— China conducted its second "joint combat readiness patrol" around Taiwan in a single week on Tuesday, 26 May 2026, deploying 29 military aircraft, including fighter jets and seven warships, in a show of force that Taipei condemned as unprovoked.
The "joint combat readiness patrol" held less than two weeks after U.S. President Donald Trump's summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing that produced no firm guarantees over Taiwan's security.
Taiwan sent ships and fighter jets to monitor the second Chinese "joint combat readiness patrol" in a week near the island state, as Taipei stepped up its guard over Beijing's military activities.
China has pressured Taiwan by increasing its military presence around the island, with Taipei on high alert after President Xi discussed Taiwan with President Trump during their last meeting.
The first patrol took place on Tuesday, 20 May, a day before Taiwan President Lai Ching-te marked his second year in office, as China detests Lai as a "separatist" and has rebuffed multiple offers from him for talks.
Taiwan's National Defense Ministry said its forces had responded to both patrols, dispatching F-16 jets and naval vessels to shadow Chinese movements.
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According to Taiwan's Defense Ministry, two dozen of the aerial sorties during the second patrol had crossed the median line —an unofficial maritime and aerial buffer zone dividing the Taiwan Strait that Beijing does not recognize as having any legal bearing.
The ministry published three pictures taken by its own forces —one from an F-16 jet of two Chinese fighters trailing a Y-20 aerial refuelling aircraft, one of the Chinese warship Yinchuan, and one of a Taiwanese navy sailor watching the same ship through binoculars.
Joseph Wu, secretary-general of Taiwan's National Security Council, placed blame squarely on Beijing in a statement on X issued Tuesday, 26 May 2026.
