China carried out a large, unannounced military exercise across the western Pacific and around Taiwan in early November, officials in Taipei have told Reuters, describing it as a campaign of 'silent intimidation' aimed at pressuring Taiwan and other governments before major international meetings. The Reuters report, published on Friday, November 13, is the first detailed account of the deployment's scale.

Source: Reuters

A senior Taiwan security official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said China's military and coast guard had at one point massed more than 100 vessels in the region early this month, conducting drills that included simulated attacks on other militaries and cities, including Taiwan's. The official said the naval deployment was larger than 'Justice Mission 2025', China's last formally named drills targeting Taiwan nearly a year ago, and one of the largest Chinese naval deployments to date.

During the latest drills, a Chinese submarine also launched an intercontinental ballistic missile from the Yellow Sea into the Chinese mainland, the official said. 'It is a silent exercise — and in effect, silent intimidation,' the official said, comparing it to 'a robber hiding a gun in the pocket of a coat — with the muzzle pointed at the bank teller.' The absence of an official exercise announcement is what set this deployment apart from China's previously named drills.

Carriers and theatre-command groups still east of the Philippines

The Chinese drills involved coordinated naval forces from the Eastern, Northern and Southern theatre commands — a scale that, the Taiwan official said, suggested Beijing was rehearsing not only a Taiwan blockade scenario but broader operations across the western Pacific, and was working to integrate its regional fleets into a single far-seas operational force. The scale of the deployment has decreased this week, with around 70 vessels operating within the first island chain on Friday, according to two Taiwan security officials.

Taiwan National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu posted details of the latest deployments on X late on Thursday, saying that while the number of vessels had decreased, 'the groups of Northern, Eastern & Southern Theater Commands plus Liaoning carrier strike group remain operating in waters east of the Philippines.' Wu added that Chinese air force activity also remained high near Taiwan.

Source: Reuters

A separate report by Indonesia's Demokratis, published on November 13, likewise described more than 100 navy and coast guard vessels in an operation spanning the South China Sea and the western Pacific, with four surface task groups, the Liaoning carrier strike group and China's newest carrier, the Fujian, operating in the South China Sea, at least four Type 055 destroyers involved, and three task groups plus the Liaoning positioned east of Taiwan.

Source: Demokratis

Beijing silent on the disclosure; Xi spoke of peaceful reunification

China's defence ministry did not respond to Reuters' request for comment on the disclosure. Taiwan's defence ministry referred Reuters to comments made by Defence Minister Wellington Koo this week, saying China was carrying out 'area denial' drills in the western Pacific involving an aircraft carrier and other naval formations. China, which views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and has never renounced the use of force, has said the carrier is on 'routine' exercises not directed at any country. On Thursday, Chinese President Xi Jinping gave a major policy speech about Taiwan urging peaceful 'reunification', though making no mention of using force.

China's widely read state-backed paper the Global Times said on Friday that if Taiwan's ruling party persists in 'seeking independence by relying on external forces or military means' and drags Taiwan's residents 'onto their war chariot, they will inevitably face a harsh reckoning'. A foreign intelligence source told Reuters the unnamed, unannounced drills appeared deliberate, allowing Beijing to apply military pressure while avoiding a diplomatic backlash, and noted that the latter part of the year, when the weather is typically calmer, is when China normally carries out drills.

The disclosure lands a week before Beijing hosts the APEC leaders' summit in Shenzhen, where US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are expected to meet for the third time this year; Taiwan also attends APEC. What happens next depends on whether the roughly 70 vessels still inside the first island chain draw down further, and whether Beijing publicly acknowledges an exercise it never announced.