US and Japan Launch Joint Drills Near Taiwan, Raising Regional Risk Premium

The United States and Japan began large-scale military exercises centered on islands near Taiwan, according to a report citing AntiWar.com. The drills come as Taiwan's security agency has flagged a rise in Chinese disinformation campaigns ahead of the island's local elections. The timing links two separate strands of regional friction: a visible US-Japan military posture near Taiwan, and an information-war campaign inside Taiwan itself. Investors in Taiwan-exposed supply chains, from chipmakers to electronics assemblers, tend to watch both military signaling and election-cycle instability as proxies for cross-strait risk. What remains unresolved is whether Beijing responds with its own exercises or diplomatic protests, which has been the typical pattern after past US-Japan drills near Taiwan.