Taiwan Political event and PLA sorties

# 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 >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...