More salami-slicing: now China mounts coast guard patrols east of Taiwan

China's expansion of continuous, non-naval coast guard patrols east of Taiwan signals a sustained shift toward normalizing coercive maritime control and narrowing the operational distance to a Taiwan blockade—a scenario Australia must prepare to manage as part of the Indo-Pacific security architecture. This development directly raises kinetic risk in the Taiwan Strait and tests the credibility of allied (US, AUKUS) deterrence commitments that underpin Australian strategic assumptions about regional stability.