An official audit has found technical shortcomings in Taiwan's counter-drone systems and the collapse of a key procurement programme after repeated failures, the South China Morning Post reported on Saturday. According to the report, the island's defences are falling behind China's fast-evolving drone technology.
Geopolitics
Taiwan slowed internet speeds in northern and central cities this week, its first drill simulating an attack on its undersea cables. US instructors are separately training Taiwanese coastguards.
Geopolitics
Hong Kong raised its 2026 growth forecast to between 3.5 and 4.5 percent after the economy expanded 4.3 percent in the second quarter, supported by external trade. Bloomberg reports that Taiwan expects its first year of double-digit GDP growth since 2010, driven by demand for AI hardware.
Economy
Taiwan's digital ministry said on Thursday that hackers used AI agents from overseas against government agencies in July, without detailing scale, damage or targets.
Technology
Trump signed a proclamation on Thursday imposing duties of up to 100 percent on imported drones and parts. The White House cites national security and reliance on foreign suppliers.
Economy
Taiwan is seeking to dissolve the China Unification Promotion Party over its alleged ties to Beijing, Al Jazeera reports. China's state outlet Global Times said a joint air force exercise with Thailand had begun with J-10C fighter jets deployed abroad, and that Chinese and Belarusian airborne troops had launched the Swift Eagle drill.
Geopolitics
Bank of America will deploy $250bn into AI and energy infrastructure, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. Results from Cisco, Foxconn and Tencent showed the spending's reach and cost.
Economy
The PLA says Chinese and Indonesian frigates have completed their first joint drill east of Taiwan. Beijing separately rejected a statement by 41 countries on its missile-test notifications.
Geopolitics
China and Indonesia will hold a joint naval exercise east of Taiwan in mid-August. Taipei calls the first such drill a dangerous provocation.
Geopolitics
Intel upsized its share sale to about $20bn on Tuesday. Sony and TSMC sealed a $4.7bn image-sensor venture in Japan the same day.
Technology
Taiwan staged a 30-minute simulated disruption to test and build public resilience in the face of a potential Chinese attack, the New York Times reported on Monday. The exercise was part of the island's wider effort to prepare its population for such a scenario.
Geopolitics
Taiwan intends to lift defence spending in 2027 by about 16 percent to a record, according to official media. The plan surfaced during the island's annual war games against a simulated Chinese assault.
Geopolitics
Nikkei Asia reports that the two companies will build an advanced image-sensor plant in Kumamoto. The investment extends Japan's effort to rebuild domestic semiconductor capacity.
Technology
Typhoon Dolphin injured six people and cut power to more than 50,000 buildings in Okinawa and Kagoshima on Saturday. Chinese forecasters expect it to reach the east coast between late Sunday and early Monday.
Geopolitics
Taiwanese leader William Lai rehearsed a late-night emergency evacuation during the island's largest annual military exercise, held amid growing concern about possible 'decapitation' strikes by the People's Liberation Army, the South China Morning Post reported on Saturday. Taiwan also slowed its internet as part of the drill, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Geopolitics
Taiwan began a ten-day military exercise on Wednesday rehearsing its war plans against a Chinese invasion, responding to growing military pressure from Beijing. For the first time the drills deliberately throttle mobile internet to test civilian communications under scarce resources.
Geopolitics
Washington has reopened discussions on billions of dollars in arms sales to Taiwan, the South China Morning Post reported on Wednesday, weeks before a planned meeting between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping. The move casts a shadow over a summit already burdened by bilateral trade frictions.
Geopolitics
Taiwan begins its annual Han Kuang exercises on Wednesday, the South China Morning Post reported. Over ten days the drills test for the first time how the island would counter a maritime blockade by the People's Liberation Army in the western Pacific.
Geopolitics
Taiwan's security chief said Beijing's "hybrid warfare" tactics are testing the entire region, not just the island, Nikkei Asia reported on Monday. The report available to Bota does not specify which tactics or incidents he cited.
Geopolitics
Four days after a magnitude 7.1 earthquake hit Japan's Kumamoto Prefecture, the death toll stood at 34 to 35 on Friday. Rescuers were still working through a wrecked shopping mall in heat above 35 degrees Celsius.
Geopolitics
Taiwan's gross domestic product expanded by almost 13 percent year-on-year in the second quarter, driven by artificial intelligence demand and trade ties with the United States, Nikkei Asia reported on Friday. Bloomberg notes the growth topped forecasts even as concerns about the AI buildout mount.
Economy
China's defence ministry said on Thursday that the People's Liberation Army is ready for combat at all times to thwart 'Taiwan independence' separatist attempts, responding to a report on replicas of island buildings used in training. The force marks its 99th anniversary on Saturday, one year from the deadline for its centenary modernisation goals.
Geopolitics
Unprecedented rainfall across a broad stretch of Asia, from Afghanistan to Taiwan, has caused flash floods and typhoon damage, the Guardian reports. One resident, Anar Gul, told the paper it rained for ten days and ten nights without stopping and that she had never seen anything like it.
Geopolitics
Taiwanese authorities held exercises testing how weapons manufacturing could be relocated if China attacked the island, Reuters reported. The drills covered the continuation of arms production under wartime conditions.
Geopolitics
Taiwan is accelerating plans to secure fuel and other essential imports, according to a report by the New York Times. The paper writes that Chinese government ships are practising manoeuvres that could one day be used to cut the island off by sea. Taipei is treating a sea blockade as an operational contingency rather than a distant scenario.
Geopolitics