Taiwan's Defense Ministry said on Thursday that 45 Chinese aircraft and 14 warships had been spotted near its shores in a 24-hour period, a day after Taipei slammed China's establishment of a zone for "shooting" drills to the south.
China insists that Taiwan, which has been ruled autonomously since 1949, is a renegade part of its territory and uses displays of military force to reinforce its threats of taking the island under its control by force if necessary.
China stepping up military activity off Taiwan
The aircraft and warships were detected in the 24 hours to 6.00 a.m. (2200 GMT on Wednesday), the ministry said in a statement.
According to the AFP news agency, it is the highest number of Chinese aircraft spotted this year.
The Chinese deployment follows Taiwanese reports on Wednesday that Beijing had staged a combat drill some 74 kilometers (40 nautical miles) off the south of the island.
Taiwan's Presidential Office on Thursday issued a "severe condemnation" of China's actions, calling them a "blatant provocation."
Its Foreign Ministry called on the international community "to continue to pay attention to the security of the Taiwan Strait and the region, and to jointly condemn China's repeated and unilateral actions."
China said on Thursday that the drills were "routine training," accusing Taipei of indulging in "hype."
Damage to undersea cables blamed on China
The recent military activity by China comes just days after one of its navy live-fire drills in seas near Australia forced nearly 50 commercial flights to change their courses for safety reasons.
On Tuesday, Taiwan seized a Chinese-crewed cargo ship on suspicion that it had cut an undersea telecoms cable connecting with Taiwan's Penghu island group.
China has accused Taiwan of casting aspersions, claiming that damage to undersea cables across the world often occurs accidentally.
US support for Taiwan surrounded by doubt
The increase in military activity comes as doubt continues to surround the question of how much Taipei can rely on Washington's support in the case of a Chinese attack, particularly since Donald Trump has returned to the White House.
The United States is legally obliged to provide arms to Taiwan and is its most important supporter and supplier of weapons but has long maintained "strategic ambiguity" when pressed on whether it would step in militarily to defend the island.
Trump declined to comment on Wednesday when asked if if he would try to stop any attempt by China to take the island by force.
However, in a separate interview with conservative US media outlet Fox News, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US "has existing commitments that it has made to prevent that from happening and to react to it, and that would be executed on ... The Chinese are aware of this as well."
The tensions between China and Taiwan date back to 1949 when Kuomintang nationalist forces under General Chiang Kai-shek fled to the island after their defeat to Mao Zedong's communist forces in a civil war.
Since then, the island has been ruled autonomously, but China has never relinquished its claim of possession.
