China’s military is keeping silent on its large deployment of naval and coast guard ships off Taiwan this week.

China's defence ministry on Friday broke its silence about days of military activities around Taiwan, saying it was entitled to stage exercises and the military would "not be absent" if required to fight separatist forces.

Taiwan says Beijing has removed nine coastguard ships from around the island’s waters, possibly signalling the end of its latest round of drills

Beijing has unveiled a new tactic on Taiwan, the democratic island it claims as its own, officials and experts say: large-scale drills with no fanfare to normalise a heightened military presence and let the U.

China, which views Lai as a separatist, held major military exercises around Taiwan following his inauguration in May and his National Day speech in October. It also held a major drill after Nancy Pelosi, then the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, visited Taiwan in 2022.

The New York Times reports that China may have deployed its largest fleet of ships around Taiwan in decades.