China has deployed the largest number of naval ships to regional waters around Taiwan since the mid-1990s, the Defense Ministry in Taipei said Tuesday, amid growing speculation that Beijing has launched another round of war games.
While Taiwan’s Defense Ministry announced Tuesday morning that it had spotted a total of 21 Chinese Navy ships and coast guard vessels around the island, media reports citing senior Taiwanese security officials said close to 90 Chinese Navy and coast guard ships had been detected in a broader stretch of waters along the so-called first island chain, which links Japan, Taiwan and the Philippines.
A ministry spokesman said the deployments were the largest since China held war games around Taiwan ahead of the island's 1996 presidential elections. Military vessels had reportedly been dispatched from China's northern, eastern and southern theater commands.
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