COORDINATED: More than 100 Chinese ships have been reported in the west Pacific, with two main clusters seen between Taiwan and its neighbors, the report said
- By Su Yung-yao and Fion Khan / Staff reporter, with staff writer
China might be conducting a major, unannounced military exercise simulating the isolation of Taiwan that is larger than the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) “Justice Mission 2025” exercise, the American Enterprise Institute and the Institute for the Study of War said in a joint report released on Friday.
The rumored military exercise includes PLA forces from the eastern, northern and southern theater commands, possibly representing an effort to coordinate surface combatants from all three coastal theater commands into a single far-seas operation, the report said.
The report cited National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮), who on Tuesday last week said that more than 100 PLA Navy and China Coast Guard (CCG) vessels were operating in the western Pacific.
Photo: Screen grab from the Institute for the Study of War’s Web site
There appeared to be two main PLA and CCG concentrations between Taiwan and its principal partners, simulating isolation operations, the report said, citing data released by Wu.
The first concentration consists of four task forces from three different PLA theater commands operating between Taiwan and Guam, including the Liaoning (遼寧) carrier strike group, which reportedly moved to the western Pacific via the Basilan Strait in the Philippines between Oct. 23 and Monday last week, it said.
The second concentration includes at least six CCG vessels and an unspecified number of PLA Navy vessels surrounding Taiwan, it said.
Meanwhile, 49 Chinese aircraft were detected operating around Taiwan on Monday last week, including 36 sorties south of Taiwan that might have flown to support the four task forces operating in the western Pacific, it said, citing data released by the Ministry of National Defense.