In December last year, some 2,000 Chinese fishing boats lined up in two near-perfect parallel rows stretching hundreds of nautical miles in the East China Sea. The formation, so vast and orderly that analysts suspected the boats were doing anything but fishing, would appear twice more in the new year.
The latest display coincided with Taiwan reporting the resumption of widespread Chinese air force activity around the island after an unexplained week-long lull, raising fresh questions over Beijing’s intentions as global attention shifted to the conflict in the Middle East.
