The photo shows the ROC Navy monitoring Chinese vessels in April. (Photo courtesy of the Ministry of National Defense)
Taipei, Dec. 11 (CNA) China designating reserved airspaces close to Taiwan but refraining from making official announcements regarding its uptick in military activity is an attempt to play "mind games" to pressure the country, scholars told CNA on Tuesday.
On Monday, China designated seven areas east off the coast of Zhejiang and Fujian provinces as "temporary reserved areas" of airspace until Wednesday. This typically indicates that military activities will take place.
Meanwhile, Reuters reported that a senior Taiwanese security official said China had deployed nearly 90 navy and coast guard ships "near" Taiwan, the southern Japanese islands, and the East and South China Seas, with naval vessels comprising two-thirds of the fleet.
The unnamed senior Taiwanese official stated it was China's largest naval fleet deployment in regional waters in nearly three decades, since Beijing held war games around Taiwan before the country's first presidential election in 1996.
However, the Chinese government has not officially publicized the large-scale deployment of naval troops in the vicinity of Taiwan, nor officially labeled the activity "military exercises" -- in a break from usual practice.
The People's Liberation Army (PLA) held two rounds of military exercises code-named "Joint Sword-2024A" and "Joint Sword-2024B" in May and October following President Lai Ching-te's (賴清德) inaugural and National Day addresses respectively.
Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at the MND-funded Institute for National Defense and Security Research, told CNA Tuesday that the PLA was attempting to play mind games and pressure Taiwan.
Citing the Reuters report, Su said that given the reported deployment of 90 warships near Taiwan and in the East and South China Seas, the PLA could still announce a round of military exercises before the end of Wednesday.
Su said the PLA could also launch a round of tabletop wargames instead of live-round exercises. This would likely send a strong message to Taiwan without drawing the ire of other countries in the region, he said.
Whether a drill is announced or not, China is trying to keep Taiwan guessing and put pressure on it, Su said.
Meanwhile, Lin Ying-yu (林穎佑), an assistant professor at Tamkang University's Graduate Institute of International Affairs and Strategic Studies, told CNA that Beijing's decision not to officially announce military drills or label the activity as it has in the past could be attributed to the relatively low-profile nature of Lai's visit to Pacific diplomatic allies.
Lin noted that Lai did not make any "provocative" remarks while visiting any of the allies or during stopovers in Hawaii and Guam.
Security officials quoted by local and foreign media have previously suggested that China was preparing to launch military exercises following President Lai's U.S. stopovers.
Lin also said the uptick in military activity this week could be a PLA internal deployment drill and not targeting Taiwan. However, he said the country still must watch every PLA move closely.
Commenting on the same issue, an unnamed national security source told CNA on Tuesday that Taiwan believes the latest PLA naval deployment took 70 days to prepare, meaning it was unlikely to be specifically targeting Taiwan.
China may use Lai's overseas trip as an excuse, but it is really flexing its muscles to the U.S. and other countries in the Indo-Pacific ahead of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump taking office on Jan. 20, the unnamed source said.