Taiwan, Japan voice concern over Chinese military movements

TAIPEI/TOKYO – Taiwan and Japan voiced concern on Dec 5 over Chinese military activities in the region, after Reuters reported that Beijing had deployed a large number of vessels across East Asian waters this week in its largest maritime show of force to date.

Reuters exclusively reported on Dec 4 that China was

deploying a large number of naval and coast guard ships

across those waters – at one point more than 100 – citing sources and intelligence reports reviewed by Reuters.

Talking to reporters in Taipei, Taiwan presidential spokeswoman Karen Kuo said the Chinese activity was not confined to the Taiwan Strait but stretched from the Yellow Sea down to waters

near the disputed Senkaku Islands

in the East China Sea, into the South China Sea and the western Pacific.

“This indeed poses a threat and impact to the Indo-Pacific and the whole region,” she said. “We also especially call on China to live up to its responsibilities as a major power and to exercise restraint in its actions.”

Ms Kuo said Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te had instructed its security forces to maintain full situational awareness and provide timely updates.

Taiwan would keep close contact and cooperation with unspecified “friendly partners” to jointly safeguard peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific, she added.

In Tokyo, Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, asked about Chinese activity in the East China Sea, said Japan was aware of the reports and was watching Chinese military movements “with great attention”, while declining to comment on the specific deployment.

“China has been expanding and stepping up its military activities in the areas surrounding Japan, and we make a constant effort to gather and analyse information on Chinese military movements with great attention,” he told reporters, without giving a timeframe of the Chinese activities.

“In any event, the government will continue to monitor developments around Japan with deep concern, and will make every effort to ensure thorough information gathering and surveillance,” he said.

China’s military has not commented, but Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said navy and coast guard activities in “relevant maritime areas” adhered strictly to domestic and international law.

“There is no need for any party to overreact, over-interpret or engage in baseless speculation,” he said in Beijing.

November and December are traditionally a busy season for Chinese military exercises, although the People’s Liberation Army has not made any announcements of large-scale, officially named drills.

The operations exceeded China’s mass naval deployment in December 2024 that prompted Taiwan to raise its alert level, the sources said.

The rise in activity is happening as China and Japan are in a diplomatic crisis after

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said in November

that a hypothetical Chinese attack on democratically ruled Taiwan could trigger a military response from Tokyo.

Beijing has also been angered by an announcement in November by President Lai of an extra US$40 billion (S$51.8 billion) in defence spending to counter China, which views the island as its own territory, a claim Taiwan’s government rejects. REUTERS