Taipei is accusing Beijing of disrupting international shipping and has urged it to stop violating international laws as it warns of a "very alarming" deployment of Chinese military and coast guard vessels.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Let's first take a look at the Chinese military activity being reported by Taiwan's Ministry
00:06of National Defence, or the MND.
00:08The Ministry of National Defence is saying there's been 53 Chinese military planes around
00:13Taiwan, 25 of those inside Taiwan's air defence identification zone, that's this white box
00:20here.
00:21This is higher than usual.
00:22On a normal day, we'll see between 10 and 15 Chinese planes around Taiwan.
00:29Now Beijing, since Monday, has set up seven so-called temporary reserved areas in areas
00:36to the east of their coast, 1,000 kilometres from Shanghai down to Fujian.
00:42Now these sort of restrictions on civilian and foreign vessels are often a sign of drills
00:47or exercises, but significantly this time Beijing has not confirmed it's been doing
00:52any drills.
00:53Taiwan has also been saying that it hasn't seen any live fire drills in this area.
00:59But Taiwan has been flagging a very alarming maritime deployment.
01:04It's the largest in nearly three decades, they're saying.
01:08Now the security sources have been telling Reuters that there's about 90 vessels, Coast
01:13Guard, Navy vessels in this area, and they haven't actually disclosed exactly where these
01:18boats are, but we do know that they're in the first island chain.
01:21That's from Japan in the north, south towards Taiwan, Borneo, and up to Vietnam.
01:28And we also know that China's navy is building so-called walls of boats in the Pacific.
01:33One wall is to the east of Taiwan, the other one further out in the Pacific.
01:38And the Ministry of National Defence says that with these movers, China is practising
01:42denying access to Taiwan, cutting it off from other countries.
01:47Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said China is disrupting international trade
01:52and called on Beijing to stop violating international law.
01:57When asked about this military activity, Beijing has said that it will never let go of unchecked
02:02separatist forces seeking independence in Taiwan.
02:06Taiwan says that it is going to remain on high alert as this activity continues.