Taiwan flags massive PLA naval mobilisation, spike in air sorties

Taiwan expressed concern on Tuesday over more than 100 People’s Liberation Army naval vessels and mainland Chinese coastguard ships sailing across the western Pacific, including the Liaoning strike group conducting drills in the Philippine Sea.

The maritime deployment overlapped with a sharp spike in PLA aerial activity near the island. Taiwan’s defence ministry reported 49 sorties of PLA aircraft in the 24 hours to 6am on Tuesday, marking the highest single-day total this year. The number dropped to 22 by Wednesday morning.

The widespread maritime deployment was disclosed late on Tuesday on social media by Joseph Wu, head of Taiwan’s National Security Council, who wrote: “Taiwan is staying vigilant. We won’t provoke, but we won’t bow to any pressure.”

A map attached to Wu’s post showed mainland Chinese vessels operating across the East China and South China seas, in waters surrounding the island, as well as in the Philippine Sea.

According to the map, the Liaoning aircraft carrier strike group operated in the Philippine Sea and was joined by naval assets from the PLA’s Eastern, Northern and Southern Theatre commands in nearby waters, though exact numbers were not given.

The Liaoning, which started its second round of drills in the western Pacific this year on October 14, had previously been tracked roughly 25 nautical miles (46km) east-southeast of Balut Island – one of the Philippines’ southernmost points – before sailing northeast on October 23, according to previous media reports.

Its movements coincided with the biennial US-Japan Keen Sword exercise, which ran from October 19 to 29, during which the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt operated alongside allied warships from Japan, Australia, Canada and France in the Philippine Sea, according to a social media post by the US Navy’s Seventh Fleet on October 22.

Previous reports said the Liaoning strike group was escorted by three major surface combatants: the Type 055 guided-missile destroyers Wuxi and Anshan, and the Type 052D guided-missile destroyer Huainan.

Separately, China’s third and most advanced carrier, the Fujian, was observed operating in the South China Sea on Monday, according to a social media post analysing satellite imagery.

Despite Wu’s report of massive, theatre-wide naval activity by the PLA in the vast western Pacific, figures released by Taiwan’s defence ministry indicated that only about a dozen mainland vessels were operating near the island during the same time.

The ministry counts only assets detected within its immediate surrounding air and sea zones.

It reported six PLA Navy warships and six official ships near Taiwan in the 24 hours to 6am on Tuesday, followed by seven PLA Navy vessels and five official ships during the same period leading to Wednesday morning.

The number of PLA aerial sorties eased after Tuesday’s peak, dropping from 49 to 22 in the 24 hours leading to Wednesday morning.

While the 49 sorties marked a year-to-date high, they remained below historical surges during previous major PLA exercises near the island, including late December last year, when daily tallies reached 77 sorties detected on December 31 following 130 the day prior, according to the South China Morning Post’s calculations.

The single-day record stands at 153 sorties, set during the Joint Sword-2024B drills in October 2024.

Beijing sees Taiwan as part of China to be reunited by force if necessary.

Most countries, including the United States and Japan, do not recognise Taiwan as an independent state, but Washington is opposed to any attempt to take the self-ruled island by force and is committed to supplying it with weapons.