Taiwan’s top security official says China has more than 100 navy and coast guard ships at sea in the Western Pacific, including the carrier Liaoning’s strike group. Beijing has announced no exercise. Two Washington think tanks say the pattern may be a rehearsal for cutting Taiwan off from its partners.
What Taiwan reported
On November 3, Joseph Wu, secretary-general of Taiwan’s National Security Council, posted a map on X showing Chinese naval and coast guard vessels spread across the East China Sea, the South China Sea and waters near Japan, Taiwan and the Philippines. He said the People’s Liberation Army Navy and the China Coast Guard had deployed more than 100 vessels there. Wu called China “such a big bully” and wrote: “We won’t provoke, but we won’t bow to any pressure,” according to Taiwan News and The Epoch Times, which both quoted the post.
Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense reported 49 Chinese military aircraft around the island in the 24 hours to 6 a.m. on November 3. Thirty-one of them crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait and entered Taiwan’s air defense identification zone in the central, southwest and east. The ministry also counted six Chinese navy ships and six other official ships near Taiwan. A day later the count was 22 aircraft, seven navy ships and five official ships, Taiwan News reported.
The count has grown since late October. On October 28, Wu posted an earlier map showing 53 Chinese ships, 34 of them warships, including the carrier Liaoning, Reuters reported. At that point the Liaoning group was east of the Philippines, other formations were east and southeast of Taiwan, and three were off southern Japan. Japan’s Defense Ministry said it had tracked three Chinese warships and a coast guard ship passing through the Osumi Strait off Kyushu into the Pacific. Wu said then: “The simultaneous threat to Taiwan, Japan and the Philippines is obvious.”
The coast guard angle
On October 31, the China Coast Guard announced “law enforcement patrols” off Taiwan’s east coast, led by a ship named Hushi, according to The Epoch Times. Taiwan’s Coast Guard Administration said the Chinese ships were trying to harass shipping by radio and to exert a “fictional jurisdiction.” It said: “China has absolutely no jurisdiction over any of Taiwan’s waters,” Reuters reported. Chinese state media footage showed a ship broadcasting that it was “carrying out law enforcement and offering help should any be needed.” The same day, a Chinese coast guard ship sailed near the Taiwan-held Pratas Islands. Taiwan says it has expelled Chinese coast guard vessels from Pratas waters 13 times this year.
Coast guard “law enforcement” off Taiwan’s Pacific coast matters because it treats Taiwan’s waters as Chinese jurisdiction. In a blockade or quarantine scenario, coast guard ships, not warships, could be the ones stopping and boarding commercial vessels. That is RSN analysis, not a stated Chinese plan.
What Beijing says
China’s Defense Ministry has described the Liaoning’s Pacific deployment as routine. Spokesman Zhang Xiaogang said in late October that the carrier’s training was an annual exercise to test long-range, open-ocean combat ability and “was not directed at any particular country,” Reuters reported. In the coverage RSN read, Beijing had not publicly answered Wu’s figure of more than 100 ships.
The think-tank assessment
A November 6 update from the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) and the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) counted four Chinese task forces from three theater commands operating between Taiwan and Guam, including the Liaoning carrier group, and at least six China Coast Guard vessels around Taiwan. It said satellite imagery showed China’s newest carrier, the Fujian, leaving its base at Sanya on Hainan Island on November 2.
The report said China “might be conducting a major, unannounced military exercise” simulating the isolation of Taiwan, larger than the “Justice Mission 2025” drills, according to the Taipei Times. It described the forces as possibly an effort to bring surface ships from all three of China’s coastal theater commands into a single far-seas operation. This is the think tanks’ assessment, not a confirmed Chinese plan. Beijing has not announced any such exercise.
What is established, and what is not
Established: Taiwan’s government has publicly reported more than 100 Chinese navy and coast guard ships in the region and elevated air activity, with dates and figures. Japan separately reported Chinese warships transiting the Osumi Strait in late October. China confirms the Liaoning is training in the Western Pacific.
Not independently verified: the “100+” total is Taiwan’s count, and the reporting RSN read included no ship-by-ship breakdown. The position of the Fujian comes from satellite imagery cited by AEI and ISW and from an outside monitoring account, not from Taiwan’s government. Reports place the Liaoning in slightly different areas: the Philippine Sea, east of the Philippines, or between Taiwan and Guam.
Unknown: China’s intent. Beijing says the carrier training is routine. Taipei calls the deployment bullying and pressure. AEI and ISW suggest a rehearsal for isolating Taiwan. None of those claims can be confirmed from public information.
Context
The deployment comes three weeks before Taiwan’s November 28 local elections. It also follows remarks by Gen. Ronald Clark, head of US Army Pacific, who said in late October that American forces in the region have prepared on the assumption that China could move against Taiwan as early as next year, as reported by Stars and Stripes and cited by Reuters. Taiwan’s Defense Minister Wellington Koo responded: “China has never abandoned the use of force to annex Taiwan.”
Whatever Beijing calls it, the scale of the deployment, a carrier group in the Pacific, a second carrier reported at sea and coast guard “law enforcement” off Taiwan’s east coast at the same time, is a test of how Taipei, Tokyo and Washington respond. In the coverage RSN read, neither Tokyo nor Washington had issued a formal statement on the 100-ship deployment.
Sources
- Taiwan News, “Taiwan says China deploys over 100 navy, coast guard vessels in Western Pacific,” November 4, 2026: taiwannews.com.tw
- The Epoch Times, “Taiwan Calls Beijing a ‘Big Bully’ Over Chinese Deployments of 100-Plus Vessels in Western Pacific,” November 4, 2026: theepochtimes.com
- Taipei Times, “PLA may be simulating Taiwan isolation: report,” November 8, 2026: taipeitimes.com
- American Enterprise Institute and Institute for the Study of War, “China & Taiwan Update, November 6, 2026”: aei.org
- Reuters (Ben Blanchard and Yimou Lee), “Taiwan flags ‘obvious’ threat from over 50 Chinese ships,” October 29, 2026, as published by the Honolulu Star-Advertiser: staradvertiser.com
- Reuters (Ben Blanchard), “Taiwan says China harassing shipping with east coast patrol,” November 1, 2026, as published by gCaptain: gcaptain.com
Featured image: A J-15 fighter takes off from China’s aircraft carrier Liaoning, May 10, 2022. Photo by the Joint Staff Office, Japan Ministry of Defense, via Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
How this article was made: Right Side News researched and drafted this article with the help of AI tools. Sources are linked so readers can check them. Spot an error? Tell us in the comments and we will correct it.
