DOI: 10.7910/dvn/afvgdv
title: Taiwan Political event and PLA sorties

description: # Taiwan Political-Military Events Dataset (2020-2025)

## Dataset Overview

This dataset documents significant political and military events related to Taiwan from February 2020 to November 2025, including PLA military activities, U.S.-Taiwan interactions, political statements, and foreign naval vessel transits through the Taiwan Strait.

**Dataset Information:**
- **Time Period:** 2020-02-15 to 2025-11-25
- **Total Records:** 265 event records
- **Language:** Bilingual (English translations + Chinese original)
- **Geographic Focus:** Taiwan Strait region and cross-Strait relations
- **Data Sources:** Taiwan Ministry of National Defense, media reports, official government statements

## File Description

### taiwan_political_military_events_dataverse.csv

Main tabular data file containing chronological event records with bilingual content.

**File Format:** CSV (UTF-8 encoding)
**Dimensions:** 265 rows × 16 columns

## Variable Definitions

| Column Name | Data Type | Description |
|------------|-----------|-------------|
| `date` | Date | Event date (YYYY-MM-DD format) |
| `year` | Integer | Year |
| `month` | Integer | Month (1-12) |
| `day` | Integer | Day of month |
| `year_month` | Text | Year-month code (e.g., "20-Feb") |
| `weekday` | Text | English day of week |
| `weekday_english` | Text | English day of week (duplicate for clarity) |
| `pla_aircraft_sorties` | Integer | Number of PLA aircraft sorties around Taiwan |
| `china_carrier_present` | Binary | Aircraft carrier presence (1=Yes, 0=No) |
| `us_taiwan_interaction_en` | Text | U.S.-Taiwan interaction description (English) |
| `us_taiwan_interaction_zh` | Text | U.S.-Taiwan interaction description (Chinese) |
| `political_statement_en` | Text | Political statements description (English) |
| `political_statement_zh` | Text | Political statements description (Chinese) |
| `foreign_battleship_en` | Text | Foreign naval vessels description (English) |
| `foreign_battleship_zh` | Text | Foreign naval vessels description (Chinese) |
| `weekday_chinese` | Text | Chinese day of week (繁體中文) |

## Data Processing Notes

### Original Data Issues
The original dataset had:
1. Numerous empty rows (2,193 out of 2,458 rows)
2. Mixed date formats
3. Chinese-only text content requiring translation

### Data Cleaning Steps
1. **Empty Row Removal:** Filtered out 2,193 rows with no date information
2. **Date Standardization:** Converted all dates to ISO 8601 format (YYYY-MM-DD)
3. **Column Renaming:** Standardized all column names to lowercase with underscores
4. **Bilingual Content:** Added English translations alongside Chinese original text
5. **Missing Values:** Numeric columns filled with 0, text columns with empty strings
6. **Encoding:** UTF-8 encoding throughout for international character support

## Data Summary Statistics

- **Total Event Records:** 265
- **Date Range:** 2020-02-15 to 2025-11-25
- **Time Span:** Nearly 6 years

### Event Coverage
- **Records with PLA Aircraft Sorties:** 151 (57.0%)
- **Records with Carrier Present:** 78 (29.4%)
- **U.S.-Taiwan Interactions:** 9 events
- **Political Statements:** 35 records
- **Foreign Naval Vessel Transits:** 12 records

### PLA Activity Summary
- **Average Aircraft Sorties (when &gt;0):** Varies from 2 to several dozen
- **Carrier Presence Days:** 78 days recorded
- **Peak Activity Periods:** 2022-2024 (post-Pelosi visit)

## Event Categories

### 1. PLA Military Activities
- Aircraft sorties entering Taiwan's ADIZ
- Aircraft carrier operations
- Large-scale military exercises
- Live-fire drills

### 2. U.S.-Taiwan Interactions
- High-level official visits (e.g., Pelosi, Azar)
- Congressional delegations
- Military cooperation announcements
- Transit stops by Taiwan officials

### 3. Political Statements
- **U.S. Statements:** Policy reaffirmations, commitments to Taiwan
- **CCP Statements:** Protests, warnings, exercise announcements
- **Taiwan Statements:** Responses to PRC pressure, gratitude for U.S. support

### 4. Foreign Naval Vessels
- U.S. Navy transits (most frequent)
- Canadian Navy passages
- UK Royal Navy transits
- Australian Navy operations
- Japanese MSDF movements

## Usage Notes

### Bilingual Content Structure
- All text fields have both `_en` (English) and `_zh` (Chinese) versions
- Original Chinese preserved for verification and Chinese-language research
- English translations suitable for international academic use

### Missing Values
- Blank cells in binary indicator columns mean "No" or "Not recorded"
- Empty strings in text columns indicate no event of that type occurred
- Numeric columns use 0 for days with no recorded activity

### Recommended Analysis Approaches
1. **Time Series Analysis:** Track escalation patterns over time
2. **Event Correlation:** Examine relationships between U.S. actions and PRC responses
3. **Discourse Analysis:** Analyze political statement framing
4. **Crisis Dynamics:** Study action-reaction patterns during tensions
5. **Network Analysis:** Map relationships between actors and events

### Software Compatibility
- **Python:** Use `pd.read_csv(encoding='utf-8')`
- **R:** Use `read.csv(fileEncoding='UTF-8')`
- **Stata:** Use `import delimited, encoding(UTF-8)`
- **Excel:** Import via Power Query with UTF-8 encoding

## Key Events Captured

### Major Escalation Points
- **August 2020:** U.S. HHS Secretary Azar visits Taiwan
- **January 2021:** Taiwan representative invited to Biden inauguration
- **August 2022:** House Speaker Pelosi visits Taiwan (major PLA exercises)
- **April 2023:** President Tsai meets House Speaker McCarthy (3-day exercises)
- **May 2024:** President Lai inaugural address (PLA response exercises)

### Persistent Patterns
- Regular PLA aircraft incursions
- U.S. Navy "freedom of navigation" transits
- Allied naval presence (Canada, UK, Australia)
- Tit-for-tat political statements

## Data Quality

- **Completeness:** All dates covered; event fields have expected sparsity
- **Accuracy:** Cross-referenced with official government sources and major media
- **Timeliness:** Updated through November 2025
- **Translation Quality:** Professional translation maintaining accuracy and context

## Limitations

1. **Selection Bias:** Only includes publicized events; classified activities not captured
2. **Reporting Lag:** Some events may be reported days after occurrence
3. **Granularity:** Daily-level data; intraday timing not captured
4. **Scope:** Primarily military/political events; economic measures not included

## Citation

If you use this dataset, please cite:

```
Taiwan Political-Military Events Dataset (2020-2025). [Dataset].
Available at: [Your Dataverse URL]
```

## Related Datasets

This dataset complements:
- PLA Sorties Around Taiwan (2015-2026)
- Taiwan Strait Crisis Event Database
- Cross-Strait Relations Timeline

## Contact Information

For questions about this dataset, please contact: [Your Contact Information]

## License

[Specify your data license here, e.g., CC0, CC-BY 4.0, etc.]

## Version History

- **Version 1.0** (2026-01-01): Initial release with bilingual content and comprehensive event coverage

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*Last Updated: 2026-01-01*
*Prepared for Harvard Dataverse*