Taiwanese forces were on high alert in anticipation of Beijing's People's Liberation Army (PLA) staging war games in response to Lai's US stopovers and call with Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson.
Taiwan's defence ministry said the number of Chinese ships in the waters around the island exceeded Beijing's maritime response to then US House speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taipei in 2022, which was the largest-ever war games.
In those drills, Beijing deployed ballistic missiles, fighter jets and warships in what analysts described as practice for a blockade and ultimate invasion of Taiwan -- and was a display of how far China's military had come since the last Taiwan Strait crisis in the mid-1990s.
Nearly 90 Chinese naval and coast guard ships were currently in waters along the so-called first island chain, which links Okinawa, Taiwan and the Philippines, a senior Taiwanese security official told AFP.
Taiwan's defence ministry said earlier it had also detected 47 Chinese aircraft near the island in the 24 hours to 6:00 am (2200 GMT).
That was the highest number of aircraft detected in a single day since a record 153 reported on October 15, after China staged major military drills in response to Lai's National Day speech days earlier.
China -- which regards Taiwan as its territory and has not ruled out using force to bring it under its control -- has held four large-scale military exercises in just over two years, including the drills in response to Pelosi's visit and two since Lai took office in May.
"It can indeed be said that the scale of these maritime forces exceeds the four drills since 2022," defence ministry spokesman Sun Li-fang told reporters.
Sun said the latest exercises drew forces from three separate Chinese regional commands, while another defence ministry official said China's actions were "not solely directed at Taiwan".
There has been no public announcement by the PLA or Chinese state media about increased military activity in the East China Sea, Taiwan Strait, South China Sea or Western Pacific Ocean, where Taiwan said Chinese ships had been detected.
However, a Beijing foreign ministry spokeswoman said Tuesday that China will "resolutely defend" its sovereignty.
The lack of an announcement from Beijing was unusual and, if drills were under way, could be a "deliberate strategy to sow confusion and exert psychological pressure," Duan Dang, a Vietnam-based maritime security analyst, said.
"China's current movements resemble what we would see during preparations for real combat, exceeding the scale of previous exercises," he added.
Taipei-based security analyst J. Michael Cole said the mix of PLA navy vessels and coast guard ships highlighted Beijing's efforts to "increase interoperability" between the two.
"Such efforts also blur the lines between civilian and military components and thus complicate Taiwan's ability to respond proportionally," Cole told AFP.
- Austin vows support -
Beijing has asserted its claims over contested territories in the region far more boldly in recent years, as its military strength has grown.
The escalating actions -- over islands in the East China Sea claimed by Japan, self-ruled Taiwan, and reefs and islands in the South China Sea that are also claimed by Southeast Asian nations -- have come as Beijing's rivals have drawn closer to the United States.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Monday that China was the "only country in the world that has the intent and, increasingly, the capability to change the rules-based international order."
"We want to see this region, this area remain open to freedom of navigation and the ability to fly the skies and international airways whenever we want to," Austin said in a speech aboard the USS George Washington, an aircraft carrier stationed in Japan.
"We're going to continue to work with our allies and partners to ensure that we can do just that."
The United States is Taiwan's most important backer and biggest supplier of arms, but has long maintained "strategic ambiguity" when it comes to putting boots on the ground to defend the island.
Lai said Friday he was "confident" of deeper cooperation with the next Donald Trump administration, a day after he spoke with US Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson that angered China.
China's foreign ministry warned Taiwan on Friday that "seeking independence with the help of the United States will inevitably hit a wall", and called on Washington to "cease meddling in Taiwan-related affairs".
The dispute between Taiwan and China goes back to 1949 when Chiang Kai-shek's nationalist forces were defeated by Mao Zedong's communist fighters and fled to the island.
China's shows of force against Taiwan
Beijing (AFP) Dec 10, 2024 -
Taiwan has said China is carrying out huge maritime drills around its main island in some of Beijing's biggest-ever military exercises.
AFP takes a look at China's increasing efforts at military intimidation around Taiwan in recent years:
- Regular incursions -
Relations between the governments of China and Taiwan have ebbed and flowed over the decades.
Tensions exploded in 1995 when China began test-firing missiles in the waters around Taiwan to protest against a visit by Taiwanese president Lee Teng-hui to his alma mater in the United States.
But China has notably ramped up military manoeuvres since the 2016 election of former president Tsai Ing-wen, who considers the island "already independent", including with warplane flights into Taiwan's so-called Air Defence Identification Zone.
Taipei said in April last year it had detected the long-range TB-001 Chinese combat drone and 37 other Chinese aircraft circling Taiwan.
That was the first time Taiwan's defence ministry had reported a Chinese military aircraft circling the island from one end of the Taiwan Strait's median line, which China does not recognise, to the other, local media said.
Beijing now deploys planes and naval vessels around Taiwan on a near-daily basis.
China has also increasingly conducted major exercises around the island -- usually in response to alleged "provocations" by Taipei.
Former US House speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to the island in August 2022 triggered Beijing's largest-ever war games.
The drills ran for at least five days and involved what Beijing called a "conventional missile firepower assault" in waters to the east of Taiwan.
They were followed by more drills that month after another delegation of US lawmakers visited Taipei.
China went on to deploy 71 warplanes in military exercises around Christmas that year, which the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) said were a "strike drill" responding to unspecified "provocations" and "collusion" between the United States and Taiwan.
- Simulated strikes -
Cross-strait tensions spiked again in April 2023, when China held three days of military drills after a meeting between Tsai and Pelosi's successor Kevin McCarthy.
The war games saw Beijing simulate targeted strikes on Taiwan and encirclement of the island, including "sealing" it off.
Chinese state media reported dozens of planes had practised an "aerial blockade".
One of China's two aircraft carriers, the Shandong, also participated in the exercises.
The drills were followed by a rocket launch from northwest China that Taiwan authorities said had sent debris falling into the sea north of the island.
That August, a stopover in the United States by then vice president Lai drew Beijing's ire, with the PLA holding new war games intended to serve as a "stern warning to the collusion of 'Taiwan independence separatists' with foreign elements".
Lai was then elected president this January in a contest overshadowed by fears of military threats from Beijing.
Following his inauguration in May, China announced two days of drills as a "strong punishment for the separatist acts of 'Taiwan independence' forces".
And in October it was a National Day speech by Lai in which he vowed to "resist annexation" that angered Beijing, which sent fighter jets and warships around the island in another round of its "Joint Sword 2024" exercises.
- 'Wrong signals' -
Beijing opposes any official contact between Taiwan and other countries.
And a tour by Lai of a number of Pacific islands -- some part of the United States -- has sparked outrage from Beijing, which resents any suggestion the Taiwan leader is a legitimate head of state.
China's foreign ministry last month warned Washington to "stop sending wrong signals" over Taiwan after Republican US House Speaker Mike Johnson spoke with Lai in a call during his overseas trip.
A day after his call with Johnson, Lai said he was "confident" Taiwan would "continue to deepen cooperation" with the incoming Donald Trump administration.
The United States does not have official diplomatic ties with Taiwan but has an arrangement to provide the island with the means to defend itself.
China vowed Monday to "firmly defend" its sovereignty and insisted Taiwan was an "inalienable" part of its territory.
On Tuesday, a Taiwan security official told AFP that nearly 90 Chinese naval and coast guard ships were currently in waters of the East China Sea, Taiwan Strait and South China Sea -- exceeding Beijing's maritime response to Pelosi's visit in 2022.
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