Taiwan Maps 53 Chinese Ships From Japan to the Philippines

Taiwan’s top security official on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026, published a map showing 53 Chinese navy and other government vessels spread across waters from southern Japan to Taiwan and the Philippines, and said the threat to all three was “obvious.” Joseph Wu, secretary-general of Taiwan’s National Security Council, posted the map on X. It showed 34 navy warships, including the aircraft carrier Liaoning, Reuters reported via The Straits Times.

What Taiwan’s map shows

According to the map, the Liaoning and its battle group were east of the Philippines. Other formations were off Taiwan’s east and southeast coasts, and three were off the southern coast of Japan. “We’re staying vigilant about their activities,” Wu said. “The simultaneous threat to Taiwan, Japan and the Philippines is obvious.”

Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its own territory, has been publishing more maps and details of where Chinese warships and coast guard vessels operate. Wu posted a similar map in May. On Thursday, Taiwan Defense Minister Wellington Koo said his ministry was keeping track of the Chinese warships and criticized what he described as attempts to project deterrence that could undermine stability in the Indo-Pacific, CiVL reported.

Japan’s Defense Ministry said on Oct. 28 that it had tracked three Chinese warships and a coast guard ship a day earlier as they passed through the narrow Osumi Strait off Kyushu island into the Pacific.

China says the carrier drills are routine

On Oct. 29, Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Zhang Xiaogang said the Liaoning’s training in the western Pacific was an annual routine meant to test long-range, open-ocean combat capabilities and was not aimed at any particular country, The Straits Times reported. Earlier this month the ministry had described the deployment the same way. The Japanese and Philippine defense ministries did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.

By the numbers

By a TBR calculation from the map’s figures, 19 of the 53 vessels, or about 36%, were not navy warships, meaning they belonged to other Chinese government fleets such as the coast guard. Warships made up about 64%. The map counts ships Taiwan says it located at one moment. It is not an independent tally, and Beijing has not confirmed the numbers.

A diplomatic row at the ASEAN defense meeting

The map appeared during a two-day expanded meeting of ASEAN defense ministers in Cebu, which ended Thursday with another dispute between China and the Philippines. Zhang said an unnamed “self-serving” Philippine politician had put up obstacles to China’s participation, broke diplomatic norms and undermined China’s rights as a dialogue partner, Reuters reported. China was represented by a military attaché, not Defense Minister Dong Jun. The South China Morning Post said that was China’s lowest-ranking representative since the meeting began in 2010.

Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro, who chaired the meeting, did not respond directly to the accusation. He said China had been given a chance to state its position and that no ASEAN member raised similar concerns. “The important fact is they were able to articulate their position on regional maritime security,” Teodoro said. Manila said its defense ministry had sent China an invitation. Beijing has imposed sanctions on Teodoro.

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth used the gathering to pledge that the United States would defend its interests and those of its allies, and proposed more defense cooperation with the 11-member bloc. The Boston Report covered Hegseth’s trip to Cebu earlier this week. In talks with Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, Teodoro and Koizumi raised serious concerns about what they described as China’s coercive activities in disputed waters.

The South China Sea backdrop

China claims almost all of the South China Sea through a “nine-dash line” that cuts into the exclusive economic zones of Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Brunei and Indonesia. An international arbitral tribunal ruled in 2016 that the claim has no basis under international law, a decision Beijing rejects. Teodoro told counterparts that the ruling’s principles are part of international law and not only a Philippine matter.

The ship deployments come during a busy week for regional security. Washington and Tokyo agreed this week to build AMRAAM missiles in Japan, and North Korea fired about a dozen ballistic missiles from Wonsan. The Boston Report will update this story if Japan, the Philippines or China release their own vessel counts.

Sources

• The Straits Times (Reuters): Taiwan flags “obvious” threat from 50 Chinese vessels
• Devdiscourse (Reuters): Philippines-China tensions resurface at close of ASEAN defence gathering
• South China Morning Post: China accuses Philippines of setting up obstacles
• CiVL: Joseph Wu posts map of 53 Chinese vessels

Additional sources

• Lianhe Zaobao: Taiwan says over 50 mainland Chinese vessels operating across wide area
• Taiwan News (Chinese): Wu on 50+ Chinese ships
• Permanent Court of Arbitration: South China Sea Arbitration