By Jia Feimao | 2026-04-29

A Taiwanese official has challenged China by disclosing the positions of Chinese vessels surrounding Taiwan.

Since 2022, Beijing has repeatedly used large-scale drills around Taiwan to signal its ability to encircle the island. It has publicized the exercise zones for those operations without disclosing the positions of individual vessels, leaving the actual naval deployment pattern largely opaque.

China considers Taiwan its territory and has repeatedly threatened to invade it.

Taiwan's Ocean Affairs Council Minister Kuan Bi-ling changed that on April 6, when she released a map showing real-time warship positions. The disclosure came on the eve of a visit to China by Cheng Li-wun, chairperson of Taiwan's main opposition party, on what Cheng has called a "peace tour."

According to Kuan's Facebook post, six Chinese warships were operating around Taiwan's main island that day. Three sailed in the Pacific waters east of Taiwan, including one intelligence-gathering vessel. Their positions exposed Taiwan's eastern approaches to Chinese surveillance and potentially constrained Taiwan's wartime force maneuver and deployment options.

The other three warships were stationed near the median line of the Taiwan Strait, southwest of Taiwan, and north of Taiwan. Taiwan spotted two China Coast Guard vessels near the offshore islands of Penghu and Matsu.

"Chinese warships, coast guard ships, and official vessels now maintain a posture of round-the-clock encirclement," Kuan wrote, adding that "gray zone harassment of the main island, Kinmen, and the Dongsha Islands has become the norm."

"Gray zone" refers to actions that stop short of war but tax another country's military. The deployments carry both political and military weight, say analysts.

Chieh Chung, a research fellow at Taiwan's Association of Strategic Foresight, told Focus that since the then-US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in 2022 and China staged its first encirclement drills around the island, Chinese vessels have routinely sailed near four key maritime routes: north toward Japan, east and south of eastern Taiwan, and south toward the South China Sea.

"The Chinese warships have assumed a joint blockade posture, threatening Taiwan's sea lines of communication," Chieh said. The deployment threatens Taiwan's vital import and export routes while reinforcing Beijing's political message that there is "no escape," he said.

Key air bases under watch

From a military perspective, the Chinese Type 052D destroyer and Type 815 electronic surveillance ship deployed east of Taiwan appear intended to monitor the Taiwanese air force's Chiashan and Chihhang air bases, said Su Tzu-yun, director of the Division of Defense Strategy and Resources at Taiwan's Institute for National Defense and Security Research.

The two bases can accommodate more than half of Taiwan's fighter aircraft and are key hubs for preserving its air power. Every Han Kuang Exercise, an annual Taiwanese drill, has begun with jets from western Taiwan redeploying to those eastern bases.

"China's inland radars have some gaps in coverage of eastern Taiwan because of the Earth's curvature and the Central Mountain Range running through Taiwan," Su told Focus. "Ships are deployed to fill those intelligence and surveillance gaps."

The Type 815 surveillance ship can monitor strategic targets over the long term and track the broader strategic picture, said Su. The Type 052D destroyer has area air defense and sea- and land-strike capabilities.

Chinese frigates positioned north and southwest of Taiwan monitor the Miyako Strait and Bashi Channel, respectively.

The Bashi Channel is the passage that US reconnaissance aircraft from Okinawa must transit to reach the South China Sea. China has long stationed warships there as forward-deployed mobile radar nodes, Su said.

Publicizing China's gray zone incursions has become a key countermeasure for Taiwan and the international community, Kuan said.

The Facebook military analysis page Special Force DB said Taiwan's disclosure of Chinese warship models, hull numbers and locations shows that the so-called "encirclement" means Chinese vessels are exposing themselves inside Taiwan's dense, layered air defense and antiship network, which leaves them vulnerable to attack.