Our view Ships off their own coast and in their own waters are called a threat, while American carriers off other people’s coasts are called “protecting freedom of navigation”. We believe Washington is steadily building a ring around China out of Japan, the Philippines and Taiwan, and the junior allies in that ring play the parts assigned to them. This is not the first attempt: a hundred years ago China was already being broken by force and by poison, and we recall that below. We are not saying Beijing is guilty of nothing or that the maneuvers concern nobody. But there is no evidence of a decision on a blockade or invasion, only a familiar trick: calling alarm what on foreign territory is called “presence”. This is an editorial opinion. The mainstream assessment In Taipei and Tokyo the simultaneous maneuvers are seen as a show of ability to pressure three countries at once. Beijing insists these are routine drills in the western Pacific that are not directed against anyone. What happened 53 Chinese ships are operating at once near Taiwan, Japan and the Philippines, according to Taiwan. What is known, how it is assessed and what we think. On October 28 Joseph Wu, secretary-general of Taiwan’s National Security Council, published a map: 53 Chinese vessels are operating near Taiwan, Japan and the Philippines, 34 of them warships. The group includes the carrier Liaoning with escort ships east of the Philippines. Other task groups are off the eastern and southeastern coast of Taiwan and the southern coast of Japan. Wu said the simultaneous threat to Taiwan, Japan and the Philippines is “obvious”. China’s Defense Ministry earlier said the Liaoning is taking part in routine exercises not aimed at any country. Meanwhile, throughout 2026 China repeatedly announced patrols around the disputed Scarborough Shoal (in January, March and May), calling them a response to Philippine “provocations”. Manila disputes Beijing’s version and considers the shoal part of its exclusive economic zone. Not the first time: how the West treated China. The Opium Wars. In 1839–1842 Britain forced the opium trade on China by force, and under the 1842 Treaty of Nanjing took Hong Kong and an indemnity. In 1856–1860 Britain and France fought again for the same rights. Opium turned millions of Chinese into addicts. The Eight-Nation Alliance, 1900. The United States, together with the European powers and Japan, entered Beijing, and under the 1901 protocol China was ordered to pay 450 million taels of silver, nearly double that with interest. More in our article on the Boxer Rebellion. Read also: The Boxer Rebellion and the US. Sources The Japan Times, 29.10.2026 Outlook India Reuters via gCaptain (Scarborough Shoal patrols) Reuters via Malay Mail, 29.03.2026 Wikipedia: Opium Wars Wikipedia: Boxer Protocol Photo: NASA, public domain, Wikimedia Commons (Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea, photographed from the ISS). Post navigation China and North Korea: Beijing Keeps Its Distance Even From an “Ally” Chinese Research Ships Near Taiwan: Seabed Mapping and Undersea Cables
