US, S. Korea, Japan originally planned to held a large scale 3 nations 5 days exercise to commemorate the Inchon landing on Sep 15, 1950 in the Yellow Sea, just off Chinese coast. In respond to the provocation, China declared an exercise just south in the E.China Sea to be conducted from Sep 10 to Sep 17. Started one day ahead of the US exercise and ended one day after, essentially creating some form of blockade to the Yellow Sea. From what I heard, US, Korea, Japan exercise had been reduced to a small scale training of 3 ships that lasted 5 hours.
I think these're the alledged three ships, Canada was present again. Originally it was to be US, S Korea, Japan exercise in Yellow Sea, in the end it become US, S Korea, Canada "exercise" in Korean west coast. Looks like China's exercise in TW vicinity is also responding to these clowns thinking their exercise or sailing through TW straits serve as any deterence at all to China is utterly delusional. If the time comes, China will act decisively.
Around the same time last week, starting from Sep 11, PLAN ships entered W.Pacific from three directions, two surface action groups and one CBG.
PLAN action groups were supported by PLAAF aircrafts in the W.Pacific. A number of Y-20U joined the exercise to extend the loitering time of the PLAAF aircrafts. For example, TW reported 4 Su-30, 12 J-10, 16 J-16, 2 KJ-500, 3 Y-20U on Sep 13.
Courtesy of Paparazzi self defence force.
Multiple exercises held at different locations around the same time last week.
The exercise in W.Pacific, off TW east coast and vicinity, is described as an unannounced, unplanned, unprecedented large scale PLAN exercise involving more than 20 naval ships. Actually it's not a blockade of TW as this guy assumed, the action groups in the W.Pacific was to carry out area denial mission. I guess TW didn't know about it until the ships were in place, and I've doubt they know what the exercise was about when it happened. If the E.China Sea exercise (announced) and TW vicinity exercises (unannounced) were related, given they all happen in the same week, does it indicate provocation could potentially trigger unexpected consequences?