TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Ministry of National Defense (MND) on Monday (Sept. 25) announced it is monitoring Chinese military activity on the coast of Fujian Province, while a defense analyst said roll-on roll-off (RoRo) ferries associated with the People's Liberation Army (PLA) have been spotted in the vicinity of the drills.
At 11:47 a.m. on Monday, the MND announced on X (formerly Twitter) that it had detected PLA aircraft and ground troops carrying out military exercises at Dacheng Bay, located at Dongshan Island. The ministry said that Taiwan's military is closely monitoring the situation with its intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) system.
Earlier that morning, the ministry said that nine People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) military aircraft and five People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) vessels were detected around Taiwan between 6 a.m. Sunday (Sept. 24) and 6 a.m. Monday (Sept. 25). The MND said it monitored the situation with its ISR system and, in response, scrambled combat patrol aircraft, dispatched naval vessels, and deployed land-based air defense missile systems.
However, the MND said the illustration of the flight paths was not provided, as there was no trace of PLAAF aircraft crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait or entering the southwestern sector of Taiwan's air defense identification zone (ADIZ).
Tom Shugart, an adjunct senior fellow with the Defense Program at the Center for a New American Security, wrote on X (formerly Twitter) on Sept. 24 that the dual-purpose roll-on roll-off (RoRo) ferries associated with the PLA, the Bo Hai Cui Zhu, Bo Hai Heng Da, and Bo Hai Bao Zhu, were at an industrial wharf in Xiamen, which is adjacent to Kinmen County and across the Taiwan Strait. He said the Bo Hai Zhen Zhu appeared to be anchored next to Xiamen, while the Bo Hai Fei Zhu appeared to be anchored off a beach just southwest of Xiamen.
As of publication, the Bo Hai Fei Zhu was located off of Guangdong Province's Jinghai Port. The Bo Hai Heng Da, Bo Hai Bao Zhu, and Bo Hai Cui Zhu were off the coast of Dongshan, and the Bo Hai Zhen Zhu was off the coast of Fujian's Gulei, according to MarineTraffic data.