Photo: U.S. Navy / Scott Webb / public domain
China has more than 100 navy and coast guard ships spread across the western Pacific right now, Taiwan says – and the island’s security chief is calling Beijing a bully.
Joseph Wu, secretary-general of Taiwan’s National Security Council, posted a map on X on Tuesday marking the locations of Chinese naval and coast guard vessels, including the aircraft carrier Liaoning, across the East China Sea, the South China Sea and waters near Japan, Taiwan and the Philippines, The Epoch Times reported. The count covers that entire region – not 100 ships gathered around Taiwan itself.
The Chinese regime “is such a big bully,” Wu wrote with the map, adding that Taiwan “is staying vigilant.” “We won’t provoke, but we won’t bow to any pressure,” he said, pointing to what he called a high number of Chinese air sorties near the island in recent days.
Separately, Taiwan’s defense ministry counted 22 Chinese military aircraft, seven navy vessels and five official ships operating near Taiwan in the 24 hours to 6 a.m. Wednesday, Taiwan News reported.
The show of force comes as Taiwan heads toward local elections on November 28, with the mayoral races in Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung among the key contests, and after Taiwan’s National Security Bureau warned last month that Beijing was stepping up disinformation campaigns and cyberattacks aimed at the vote. China has also run regular coast guard patrols off Taiwan’s eastern coast since June, which Taiwan’s Coast Guard Administration rejects as unlawful.
Kuan Bi-ling, head of Taiwan’s Ocean Affairs Council, said this week that “Taiwan also sits on one of the most important shipping routes in the global supply chain,” and warned of Chinese “gray-zone harassment.” There is no sign the deployments have disrupted commercial shipping.
For the rest of the world, the risk is location: the waters now crowded with Chinese ships carry a huge share of global trade and electronics, so a clash or accident there could jolt supply chains far beyond Asia.
JBizNews Desk | Taipei
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