By Yimou Lee, Ben Blanchard
TAIPEI (Reuters) -Taiwan raised its alert level on Monday, saying China had reserved airspace and deployed naval and coast guard vessels in what a security source called the first military drills across a broad swathe of the region's waters.
A senior Taiwan security official said China had nearly 90 navy and coast guard ships near Taiwan, the southern Japanese islands and the East and South China Seas, of which around two-thirds were naval.
Beijing's defence ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
China, which claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, had been expected to launch another round of exercises in response to Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te's trip to the Pacific, which included stopovers in Hawaii and the U.S. territory of Guam, security sources had told Reuters.
Beijing set up seven "temporary reserved areas" of airspace until Wednesday to the east of its eastern Fujian and Zhejiang provinces, Taiwan's defence ministry said in a statement.
Such zones are allocated for a particular user during a set period, though other flights can pass through with permission, under international rules.
A Notice to Air Mission issued by China listed coordinates for the seven areas, two of which face Taiwan off China's Fujian province but are closer to the Chinese coast.
The rest are concentrated along the Zhejiang coastline and off Shanghai, into the East China Sea.
However, China did not immediately announce any specific weapons test or military zones. In August 2022, it fired missiles into waters around Taiwan during war games to protest a visit to Taipei by then-U.S. house speaker Nancy Pelosi.
The U.S. State Department said it was closely monitoring the Chinese military activity near Taiwan.
"We continue to call on the PRC (People's Republic of China) to act with restraint and avoid actions that may undermine peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and in the broader region. A routine transit by President Lai should not be used as a pretext for military pressure," a department spokesperson said.
The Taiwan official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said China's deployment was larger than the previous two major drills around Taiwan this year.
"For the first time they are targeting the entire island chain," the source said, referring to an area that runs from Japan through Taiwan, the Philippines and on to Borneo, enclosing the seas around China's coast.
"They are meant to achieve total military intimidation by positioning to control the inner part of the island chain."
Taiwan's military said it had activated "combat readiness exercises" at strategic locations.
"Any unilateral and irrational, provocative actions could seriously damage peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific and that will not be welcomed by the international community," Taiwan's defence ministry said.
TAIWAN ACCUSES CHINA OF 'GREY ZONE HARASSMENT'
Wang Ting-yu of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, who heads parliament's defence and foreign affairs committee, said China might be planning manoeuvres - or sounding a false alarm to put pressure on Taiwan.
"Please be a civilized neighbouring country. Don't be a troublemaker all the time," he said.
Taiwan's coast guard said seven Chinese coast guard ships have been carrying out "grey-zone harassment" all day, and that Taiwan had the right to respond if China tried to intrude into its waters.
Taipei says China has been using "grey-zone" tactics short of actual combat, including daily air force and navy missions, to harass Taiwanese forces.
Beijing detests Lai as a "separatist" and has rebuffed his repeated calls for talks. Taipei rejects Beijing's sovereignty claims, saying only Taiwan's people can decide their future.
China's sabre rattling around Taiwan and in the disputed South China Sea has raised fears of conflict.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told U.S. sailors in Japan that China was the only country with the intent and increasingly the capability to change the rules-based international order.
"And so we want to see this region, this area remain open to freedom of navigation and the ability to fly the skies and international airways whenever we want to," he said.