Taiwan says China staged largest unannounced naval exercise

Taiwanese officials say China concentrated more than 100 naval and coast guard vessels at the start of November in an unannounced exercise that simulated attacks on cities and armed forces and rehearsed blockades across the Eastern, Northern and Southern theater commands, a deployment larger than Mission Justice 2025 almost a year earlier and among the largest Chinese naval mobilizations recorded. A senior Taiwanese security official, speaking anonymously, called it a silent exercise and, in practice, a silent intimidation, and said a submarine fired an intercontinental ballistic missile from the Yellow Sea toward the mainland during the drills.

The presence has since fallen to about 70 vessels in the first island chain, but National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu said groups from the three commands and the aircraft carrier Liaoning were still operating east of the Philippines with strong air activity, and Defence Minister Wellington Koo said China had conducted area-denial training in the Pacific. China’s defence ministry did not respond to Reuters; Beijing said only that its carrier conducts routine operations not directed at specific countries. The disclosure lands days before Beijing hosts the APEC summit in Shenzhen, where Presidents Trump and Xi are expected to meet for the third time this year.