Joyu Wang and Austin Ramzy of The Wall Street Journal reports that dozens of vessels deployed over vast area of the Western Pacific for apparent military drills, a warning to Taiwan and other U.S. allies. They write:
China massed dozens of navy and coast guard vessels in what appears to be the largest maritime exercises targeting Taiwan and the broader Western Pacific since 1996, a potent warning to the incoming Trump administration of China’s increasingly aggressive stance in the region.
China’s military didn’t announce the start of any drills. But Taiwanese authorities said Tuesday they were seeing “major elements of a military drill” over a vast expanse of air and sea near Taiwan.
As of Tuesday morning, nearly 100 Chinese warships and vessels—involving several thousand personnel—were spotted across the South China Sea, in the waters surrounding Japan and South Korea, and around Taiwan, according to Taiwanese security officials. […]
China and Russia carry out regular military drills together. In December 2022 they conducted exercises in the East China Sea, just to the north of Taiwan, that analysts said were likely meant to display the sort of quarantine and blockade capabilities that might be used in a conflict over Taiwan.
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