While all eyes in the West have been busy following events in Syria, Ukraine, and Gaza - China's military has been making big moves around Taiwan, and interestingly this comes with just weeks to go before the new Trump administration enters the White House.
Taiwan’s Defense Ministry announced Tuesday that it is monitoring a surge of Chinese military activities in the Taiwan Strait and Western Pacific. This state of 'high alert' has been on since Monday, and new major PLA military drills are expected.
The deployment of PLA vessels extends well beyond waters off Taiwan, strongly suggesting Beijing is readying for new exercises which threaten other regional US allies as well, such as the Philippines.
According to details in CNN:
An "astonishing” number of Chinese vessels have been deployed at a scale that “could block external forces,” Lt. Gen. Hsieh Jih-Sheng, deputy chief of the General Staff for Intelligence, said at a Taiwan Defense Ministry briefing Tuesday.
The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) naval deployment was not only targeting Taiwan, Hsieh said, adding that the geographic spread stretched into waters past the first island chain. The strategically significant chain of islands encompasses Japan, Taiwan, parts of the Philippines and Indonesia, and as long been a key plank in the US maintaining its position as the dominant power in the Pacific.
Gen. Hsieh further said in the statement, "The PLA’s recent activities not only exerted military pressure on Taiwan. Its naval forces, specifically, have significantly raised its posture around Taiwan and the Western Pacific."
But it remains that the PLA military has yet to announce any formal drills as of Tuesday evening (local time), but Taipei expects it.
All of this appears retaliation and a pressure campaign by Beijing for Taiwan President Lai Ching-te's alleged "separatist" activities. China has condemned Lai's unofficial visits to Hawaii and Guam during a South Pacific tour which went on all last week.
It was his first such visit to the United States since he entered office, and Beijing has vowed "strong countermeasures" in the wake of the trip. Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council repeatedly slammed the "blatant provocations" from Beijing which harm regional peace and stability, while China has pointed to Taiwan and Washington provocations.