China's secretive military appears to be up to something around Taiwan, but it's unclear whether it's a formal military drill. Taiwan's Defense Ministry said Tuesday that it has detected a dozen Chinese naval ships and 47 military planes in the past 24 hours but no live-fire activity as in previous military exercises.

Taiwan says Chinese has deployed its largest naval fleet in nearly three decades to the waters around the island, describing the development as “very alarming”.

Taiwanese officials detected 53 Chinese military aircraft, 11 People’s Liberation Army Navy ships and eight other Chinese government ships operating around the island over a 24 hour period starting on Tuesday.