TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – China has posted a record of more than 110 military and coast guard ships along the first island chain, National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said Saturday.
The top official posted a map on X showing the deployment of the Chinese ships from South Korea and Japan down to the Philippines and Vietnam. Wu’s post was a reaction to China announcing earlier Saturday it was sending its coast guard vessel the Xiushan to patrol the ocean east of Taiwan, the Liberty Times reported.
Wu said China’s “massive military mobilization” along the first island chain was a “clear sign of its expansionism.” The more than 110 ships amounted to a record, he said.
“This bully has too much money to throw around, but none for its own people,” Wu added. Taiwan condemned the mission of the Xiushan as “fake law enforcement, but real expansion of power,” according to the Liberty Times.
The Coast Guard Administration said it was sending the Hualien and Pali patrol vessels to track China’s Xiushan and Chongming ships, per CNA. At 9:25 a.m. Saturday, the two Chinese vessels were situated 100 kilometers east of Hualien harbor, just outside restricted waters.
Recent Chinese coast guard operations east of Taiwan invited condemnation by several other countries, including the US and the UK, as threats to the freedom of navigation. The operations have also been seen as a rehearsal for a potential Chinese blockade of Taiwan.
