Taiwan's five-day combat readiness drills, launched Monday under the Ministry of National Defense, are the most operationally specific signal Taipei has sent Beijing since the 2022 Pelosi-response exercises -- not because they are larger, but because their timing is a calculation.

The drills open while Iran has closed the Strait of Hormuz for the second time in 96 hours, JCS assets are diverted to Middle East contingency posture, and Vance is in direct talks with Tehran that the White House has not briefed Taipei on. The Ministry of National Defense announced five days of live-fire and command-integration exercises across northern and central districts. That number is not routine maintenance. Five days is long enough to test joint command response under sustained pressure; it is also long enough for PLA Eastern Theater Command to observe, measure response timelines, and update the contingency file it maintains on Taiwan's mobilization speed. The exercises close Friday, June 26, the same week the USS Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group remains committed to Fifth Fleet waters rather than Seventh Fleet rotation. Taipei is not drilling for Beijing. Taipei is drilling because Washington's available mass is somewhere else, and the MND wants both capitals to read the same sentence.