Chinese warship threat ‘obvious:’ official
STAY VIGILANT: An aircraft carrier and battle group were located to the east of the Philippines, while other ships were identified off the east and southeast coast of Taiwan
By Ben Blanchard and Yimou Lee / Reuters, TAIPEI
China has more than 50 naval and other official vessels operating in a wide swath of sea stretching from southern Japan down to Taiwan and off the Philippines, National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said on Wednesday, calling the threat level “obvious.”
Taiwan is stepping up efforts to issue details and maps depicting locations where Chinese warships and coast guard vessels operate.
“We are staying vigilant about their activities,” Wu said. “The simultaneous threat to Taiwan, Japan and the Philippines is obvious.”
A map shows Chinese ships operating near Taiwan on Wednesday.
Photo from National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu’s X page
The remarks accompanied a map he posted on X showing the locations of 53 ships, 34 of them navy warships, including the aircraft carrier Liaoning.
The carrier and its accompanying battle group were positioned to the east of the Philippines, with other formations off Taiwan’s east and southeast, along with three off the southern coast of Japan, the map showed.
Wu published a similar map on X in May.
The defense ministries of China, the Philippines and Japan did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
On Wednesday, Japan’s Ministry of Defense said it had tracked three Chinese warships and a coast guard ship a day earlier as they passed through the narrow Osumi Strait off Kyushu Island and into the Pacific.
This month, China’s Ministry of National Defense said the Liaoning was engaged in a routine training exercise not directed at any specific country.
China’s ties with Japan and the Philippines have tanked in the past few months. It has been upset by Japanese support for Taiwan, while embroiled in an increasingly bitter standoff with Manila in the South China Sea.
“We are not happy to see any attempt to project deterrence that could undermine peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region,” Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) told reporters at the legislature in Taipei yesterday.
A senior security official briefed on the matter said one thing to watch would be whether the Liaoning carrier group continues north toward Japan after drills in the Philippine Sea.
“If it keeps moving north, that would suggest a stronger intent to put pressure on Japan’s defense posture,” the official said.
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