By Zarak Khan | 2025-12-12

China has further unsettled East Asia's already fragile security balance with what regional officials describe as its largest-ever coordinated maritime show of force, sending a large number of naval and coast guard vessels through several contested waterways.

The deployment on December 4 at one point exceeded 100 ships, according to four sources and intelligence reports reviewed by Reuters.

Beijing publicly cast the activity as routine training.

But the scale and proximity of Chinese vessels triggered elevated alerts in Taiwan and Japan, both of which denounced the operation as an aggressive assertion of military intent rather than a standard drill.

The Chinese activity was not confined to the Taiwan Strait, stretching from the Yellow Sea down through waters near the disputed Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, into the South China Sea and the western Pacific, Taiwan presidential spokesperson Karen Kuo said, according to Reuters.

The scale indeed "poses a threat and impact to the Indo-Pacific and the whole region," Kuo told media in Taipei.

Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi also told reporters that Tokyo was closely following Chinese military activity.

"China has been expanding and stepping up its military activities in the areas surrounding Japan," he said, as quoted by Reuters.

"The government will continue to monitor developments around Japan with deep concern," he added.

Feuding over the Senkakus

The Chinese fleet surge comes amid heightened tensions with Japan, particularly in the East China Sea where the disputed Senkaku Islands are situated.

Japan administers the Senkakus, but China and Taiwan have competing claims to the same islands and call them the Diaoyu Islands.

In November, the Japanese and Taiwanese defense ministries tracked the movements of the Chinese aircraft carrier Fujian as it approached within roughly 200km of the Senkakus.

Tensions escalated further on December 6 when Japan accused Chinese warplanes dispatched from the Liaoning aircraft carrier of locking their radar systems onto Japanese fighter jets.

Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara December 8 denounced the "dangerous" incident over international waters southeast of Okinawa prefecture.

China's maritime escalation also coincides with a bitter diplomatic dispute with Tokyo, which erupted after remarks in November from Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.

Takaichi suggested that a conflict over Taiwan, particularly over a Chinese naval blockade of the island, could meet the legal criteria for a "survival-threatening situation" for Japan. Such an assessment could pave the way for Japanese military action.

Beijing objected to Takaichi's "public opposition to any use of force by China against Taiwan," Hsiao-huang Shu, a research fellow at Taiwan's Institute for National Defense and Security Research, told the Taipei Times.

China might have bigger goals than bullying Japan over specific remarks. It wants to intimidate its adversaries in the Indo-Pacific, said Shu.

Target countries include United States, Japan and the Philippines, he added.

The three allies conducted joint drills in the South China Sea in November, stepping up security coordination while China dispatched a bomber formation for supposedly "routine patrol operations."

Meanwhile, Japan and the Philippines concluded their third bilateral Maritime Cooperative Activity on November 29.

Taking aim at Okinawa

Beijing has also been angered by Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te's announcement last month of an extra $40 billion over eight years in defense spending to better counter China.

China considers Taiwan a renegade province and has never ruled out using force to seize the democratic island.

China "may also be seeking to establish a new base level of response to Taiwan-security related issues," Robert Ward, a Japan scholar at London's International Institute for Strategic Studies, told the Japan Times.

China deliberately chose the location for lighting up the Japanese warplanes, situated between Okinawa's main island and Minami-Daito Island, said Ward.

Japan hosts the largest foreign deployment of the US military, including thousands of US Marines stationed in Okinawa.

"China is saying 'if you interfere in Taiwan, we can interfere in Okinawa,'" he said.