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China is deploying dozens of ships in its biggest maritime mobilization around Taiwan in years, Taipei said Tuesday, after Beijing voiced fury at President Lai Ching-te’s recent visit to the United States.
Taiwanese forces were on high alert in anticipation of Beijing’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) staging war games in response to Lai’s US stopovers and call with Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson.
Taiwan’s defense ministry said the number of Chinese ships in the waters around the island exceeded Beijing’s maritime response to then US House speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taipei in 2022, which was the largest-ever war games.
In those drills, Beijing deployed ballistic missiles, fighter jets and warships in what analysts described as practice for a blockade and ultimate invasion of Taiwan — and was a display of how far China’s military had come since the last Taiwan Strait crisis in the mid-1990s.
Nearly 90 Chinese naval and coast guard ships were currently in waters along the so-called first island chain, which links Okinawa, Taiwan and the Philippines, a senior Taiwanese security official told AFP.
Taiwan’s defense ministry said earlier it had also detected 47 Chinese aircraft near the island in the 24 hours to 6:00 am (2200 GMT).
That was the highest number of aircraft detected in a single day since a record 153 reported on October 15, after China staged major military drills in response to Lai’s National Day speech days earlier.
China — which regards Taiwan as its territory and has not ruled out using force to bring it under its control — has held four large-scale military exercises in just over two years, including the drills in response to Pelosi’s visit and two since Lai took office in May.
