China's military is staying silent on its recent activity around Taiwan

BEIJING — China's military kept silent Friday on its large deployment of naval and coast guard ships off Taiwan this week, with its top spokesperson quoting an ancient strategist instead.

Taiwanese officials have said that China was simulating a blockade with one string of ships off the island and a second one farther out at sea, in waters between Japan's Okinawa islands and the northern Philippines.

The Chinese Defense Ministry's first public comment on the activity was essentially a no comment.

Wu Qian, the ministry's top spokesperson, included a famous quote from ''The Art of War,'' an ancient Chinese text on warfare strategy, in his remarks. The quote says military tactics adapt to changing conditions, just as flowing water does.

He then said that the military will decide whether to hold an exercise based on its needs and the situation, and that, either way, the country's People's Liberation Army remains committed to opposing Taiwan's independence and to promoting its ''reunification'' with China.

Taiwan is a self-governing island of 23 million people off China's east coast. The Chinese government claims Taiwan as its territory and says it must come under its control. The United States is embroiled in the dispute because it supports Taiwan's democratic government and is the main supplier of weapons for its defense.

China's silence on its military activity this week contrasted with previous drills around Taiwan, which were reported by state media with dramatic graphics and images and seen as a public show of force directed at the island's government.

Taiwanese officials described this week's activity as training, since there was no confirmation from China that it was holding drills. They said they were monitoring the training and viewed it as threatening.

Taiwan's government was expecting China to conduct drills in response to a recent visit by Taiwan's president to Hawaii and Guam, an American territory in the Pacific.