China flexes military muscle with East Asian naval activity

BEIJING: China has flexed its muscles this month by sending an unusually large number of naval and coast guard vessels through a swathe of East Asian waters, according to security documents and officials, in moves that have unnerved regional capitals.

Since early May, China deployed fleets larger than usual, including navy, coast guard and other ships near Taiwan, the southern Japanese islands and the East and South China Seas, according to three regional security officials and documents of regional military activities reviewed by Reuters.

On May 21 and May 27, for instance, China deployed nearly 60 and more than 70 ships, respectively, around three-quarters of them naval, the documents show. These included guided-missile frigates, destroyers and coast guard boats.

Beijing also dispatched two aircraft carrier groups, with the Shandong now in the busy waterway of the South China Sea and the Liaoning off the southeastern coast of Taiwan, the documents show.

“They are exerting pressure on the whole of the first island chain amid global geopolitical uncertainties,” said one security official.

“They are trying to reinforce their dominance,” the source said, adding that drills this month by the Liaoning, the oldest of China’s three aircraft carriers, simulated attacks on foreign ships and aircraft around the East China Sea and the Yellow Sea.