{
  "id": "ACM-TWN-STR",
  "slug": "taiwan-strait-tensions",
  "title": "Taiwan Strait Tensions",
  "url": "https://armedconflicts.org/taiwan-strait-tensions.html",
  "status": "Tensions",
  "intensity": "Elevated",
  "region": "East Asia",
  "type": "Interstate standoff",
  "tracked_since": "1949",
  "revision": "2026-08-05",
  "sources": [
    "ACLED",
    "UCDP",
    "CFR Global Conflict Tracker"
  ],
  "locations": [
    {
      "name": "Taipei",
      "type": "city",
      "lat": 25.033,
      "lon": 121.5654,
      "description": "Capital of Taiwan and seat of its government, site of then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi's August 2022 visit that sharply raised cross-strait tensions."
    },
    {
      "name": "Kaohsiung",
      "type": "port",
      "lat": 22.6273,
      "lon": 120.3014,
      "description": "Taiwan's largest port and a major naval base on the island's southwest coast."
    },
    {
      "name": "Kinmen Islands",
      "type": "border",
      "lat": 24.4491,
      "lon": 118.3768,
      "description": "Taiwan-administered islands lying just a few kilometers off the mainland Chinese coast, the site of armed confrontations during the 1954-55 and 1958 Taiwan Strait crises."
    },
    {
      "name": "Matsu Islands",
      "type": "border",
      "lat": 26.1597,
      "lon": 119.9282,
      "description": "Taiwan-administered island group near Fuzhou on the Chinese mainland, garrisoned as a forward defense position."
    },
    {
      "name": "Penghu Islands",
      "type": "region",
      "lat": 23.5654,
      "lon": 119.5785,
      "description": "Taiwan-administered archipelago roughly midway across the Taiwan Strait, used as a staging area for military exercises."
    },
    {
      "name": "Pratas Island (Dongsha)",
      "type": "base",
      "lat": 20.7,
      "lon": 116.7167,
      "description": "Remote Taiwan-administered atoll in the northern South China Sea garrisoned by the Coast Guard Administration, considered a possible target for a Chinese pressure campaign short of a full invasion."
    },
    {
      "name": "Xiamen",
      "type": "city",
      "lat": 24.4798,
      "lon": 118.0894,
      "description": "Mainland Chinese port city directly across the strait from Kinmen, used as a staging area for PLA exercises near Taiwan-held islands."
    },
    {
      "name": "Taiwan Strait median line",
      "type": "chokepoint",
      "lat": 24.5,
      "lon": 119.3,
      "description": "Informal midpoint boundary between Taiwan and mainland China that Chinese military aircraft crossed only rarely before 2022 but now cross on a near-daily basis.",
      "control": "Routinely crossed by PLA aircraft and vessels; no longer functions as an operational boundary",
      "source": "Council on Foreign Relations, Global Conflict Tracker",
      "source_url": "https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/confrontation-over-taiwan",
      "as_of": "2026-08-02"
    }
  ],
  "revision_history": [
    {
      "date": "2026-08-05",
      "change": "Headlines refreshed",
      "source": "News feed"
    },
    {
      "date": "2026-08-02",
      "change": "Taiwan Strait median line control updated",
      "source": "Council on Foreign Relations, Global Conflict Tracker"
    }
  ]
}