Taiwan is cracking down on PRC identity documents and increasing restrictions on PRC nationals and ID-holders in Taiwan. The Taiwanese Ministry of the Interior (MOI) announced on August 12 that Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) legislator-at-large nominee Li Zhenxiu is ineligible to serve as a lawmaker due to her PRC citizenship. The TPP holds eight seats in the Legislative Yuan (LY) and commonly votes with the Kuomintang (KMT). Li is not currently in office, but the TPP nominated her as a possible replacement lawmaker, effective in 2026. This step would fulfill the TPP’s promise to cycle out its lawmakers halfway through their term. The MOI also removed a Hualien County village warden, Teng Wan-hua, for her PRC citizenship on August 8. The MOI discovered in January that Teng and four other village wardens possessed PRC citizenship in violation of the Nationality Act, which bans foreign nationals from holding government office in Taiwan. Both Li and Teng could serve in government office if they renounced their PRC citizenship within a year of taking office, however. The TPP and other critics of the MOI’s decision argued that Taiwanese law does not treat the PRC as “another country” but rather as the “Mainland area” of the Republic of China, even though the current Lai Ching-te administration has increasingly referred to the PRC as a foreign country.
The PRC attempted to reassert control over Scarborough Shoal and limit Philippine efforts to document PRC aggression in the South China Sea. The United States deployed the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Higgins and the Independence-class littoral combat ship USS Cincinnati into the South China Sea following the August 11 collision between a CCG and PLA Navy (PLAN) vessel in the area, and the USS Higgins performed a freedom of navigation operation (FONOP) around Scarborough Shoal on August 13. This is the first known US military operation in waters around the Scarborough Shoal in at least six years. A PRC fighter jet also intercepted a small Philippine Cessna Caravan, a civilian aircraft that can only seat up to 14 passengers, on August 13. The PRC fighter jet came within 61 meters of the Philippine plane, and a PLAN warship also issued radio challenges telling the plane to leave the area. PRC Spokesperson for the South Sea Fleet Senior Colonel He Tiecheng claimed that the USS Higgins illegally entered PRC territorial waters and was “driven away” on August 14. US 7th Fleet spokesperson Commander Megan Greene disputed the claim and stated the FONOP complied with international law.[67] The PRC Ministry of Defense (MOD) spokesperson Jiang Bin urged the Philippines to cease its “infringement” on PRC sovereignty on August 15.
The EU, Australian, Canadian, American, and Japanese ambassadors, along with Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council, condemned the PLAN and CCG’s efforts to target Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) vessels on August 11, which ultimately led to the collision between the PLAN and CCG vessels. PCG spokesperson Jay Tarriela also stated that the PRC jammed PCG drone signals on August 11, which prevented the PCG from recording footage of the incident. He stated this was the first signal jamming incident that the PCG encountered near Scarborough Shoal. The PRC appears to be taking increasingly aggressive action around Scarborough Shoal by coordinating CCG and PLAN operations to drive out Philippine ships and to attempt to limit Philippine airspace activity over Scarborough Shoal. The signal jamming and plane interception incidents indicate a deliberate attempt to limit Philippine efforts to document PRC activity around Scarborough Shoal. | 
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