Beijing: PLA launches Taiwan drills after Trump arms package statement
China's People's Liberation Army launched three day drills around Taiwan after Donald Trump's statement on an arms package, while Taipei activated heightened readiness and recalled diplomats for consultations.
- China's People's Liberation Army launched three day drills around Taiwan.
- Taipei activated heightened readiness and recalled diplomats for consultations.
- The response follows Trump's statement on a 14 billion dollar arms package.
- Brussels, through the EU High Representative, has called for restraint by all actors in the Taiwan Strait.
The People’s Liberation Army of China launched on Thursday morning three day military drills in the waters around Taiwan. According to a statement from the Ministry of Defence in Beijing, the drills are of a combined character and cover operations by the Naval Forces, Air Forces and the strategic Rocket Force.
The timing of the drills, codenamed Joint Sword 2026B, is tied to a statement on Tuesday evening by US President Donald Trump. Trump confirmed that the White House is considering approval of an arms package worth fourteen billion dollars for Taiwan. For Serbia, which in May signed a memorandum of cooperation with the Communist Party of China and whose President Aleksandar Vucic was decorated with the Friendship Medal by Xi Jinping, dynamics in the Taiwan Strait are a test of multi-vector diplomacy.
Scope and character of the drills
The drills cover sectors to the east, west, north and south of the island. The Beijing Ministry of Defence has published maps with explicitly marked zones, between twelve and twenty four nautical miles from the Taiwanese coast. That puts them inside what Taipei treats as its territorial waters.
Taiwan’s National Defence and Security Centre recorded in the first nine hours sixty six aircraft overflights and the presence of eighteen Chinese navy vessels. Taiwan Defence Minister Wellington Koo convened an emergency session of the joint forces command and activated the heightened readiness protocol.
The Chinese drills represent a serious provocation and a threat to regional stability, and we call on Beijing to exercise restraint in line with international law, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said on Tuesday.
Response from European institutions
EU High Representative Kaja Kallas convened consultations on Wednesday with the ambassadors of the twenty seven member states. After the consultations, Brussels issued through the European External Action Service a statement calling for restraint by all actors in the Taiwan Strait and recalling the “importance of preserving the status quo”.
EU diplomatic activity around the situation includes:
- consultations with Washington on aligning public statements
- a conversation between Kallas and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi
- preparation of the Political and Security Committee meeting on Friday
- analysis of market consequences for European automotive companies
- consultations with Tokyo and Seoul on coordination
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced that the issue will be added to the agenda of the European Council in Brussels at the end of June. Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic is running parallel consultations with industry associations in Germany, France and Italy.
Implications for Serbia and the region
Serbia’s UN mission in New York is following the situation in a technical capacity, while the Foreign Ministry in Belgrade has issued no official statement. Diplomatic sources say Belgrade is interested in upholding the “One China” principle, which Serbia consistently affirms, while avoiding direct comment on the military drills.
Belgrade’s position is complicated by the May memorandum of cooperation between the SNS and the Communist Party of China and by the fact that President Aleksandar Vucic received the highest Chinese decoration for a foreign statesman in Beijing. Any escalation in the Taiwan Strait that drew European or US trade measures against China would hit Serbia’s economic ties with Beijing directly.
What comes after the drills
The drills end on Saturday evening, after three days of operational activity. Washington has signalled through the Seventh Fleet that the carrier strike group Carl Vinson is remaining in the Philippine Sea area, at a distance that allows for a rapid response.
The next key date is the UN Security Council session in New York on June 4, where China holds the presidency, and the EU and Western Balkans summit in Tivat on June 5. Two events in the same week will test the diplomatic coordination of Brussels and Washington toward Beijing, as well as Belgrade’s ability to respond to pressure from both sides.
Will the Joint Sword 2026B drills be only a signalling response, or will Beijing keep up steady pressure in the weeks ahead following Trump’s decision on the fourteen billion dollar package?
