Taiwan says China deploying largest naval fleet in decades

Taiwan's Defense Ministry on Tuesday said that China had deployed its largest navy fleet in regional waters in nearly three decades. 

The deployment is bigger than the military drills of 2022, when former US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the island. 

The Defense Ministry said that 47 aircraft and 12 warships had been detected in the previous 24 hours. It added that this was the largest number of aircraft spotted near the island in a single day in the last two months, which saw an escalation in Chinese war games along the island.

The deployment marks an escalation in the tensions between China and Taiwan.

What did Taiwan say about the Chinese deployment?

Taiwanese Defense Ministry spokesperson Sun Li-fang said the Chinese naval deployment close to the so-called first island chain which links Okinawa, Taiwan and the Philippines, was the largest since China held war games ahead of the 1996 Taiwanese presidential elections.

"The current scale is the largest compared to the previous four. Regardless of whether they have announced drills, they are posing great threats to us," Sun said. 

The ministry said China's navy is building two "walls" in the Pacific.

"They are sending a very simple message with these two walls: trying to make the Taiwan Strait an internal sea" of China, senior ministry intelligence officer Hsieh Jih-sheng told reporters.

Why are China-Taiwan relations so tense? 

A visit by Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te to the US last week invited more Chinese ire, threatening further escalation. China has been expected to launch military drills around Taiwan in response.

On Monday, Taiwan's Defense Ministry said it was on high alert after spotting Chinese warships and coast guard vessels.

Beijing made no public announcement via its Peoples' Liberation Army (PLA) or state media regarding increased military activity in the East China Sea, Taiwan Strait or the South China Sea. But a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman stressed China would "firmly defend" its sovereignty.

The island of Taiwan regards itself as a sovereign nation, but China claims it as part of its own territory. Taiwan is heavily reliant on the US for military support to defend itself against China. 

Lai is an outspoken critic of Chinese incursion, and Beijing has labeled him a "separatist."

China has launched two large-scale military drills around Taiwan since Lai took office and regularly deploys fighter jets and navy ships near the island.

tg/rmt (AFP, Reuters)