China conducts major naval and air deployment near Taiwan

SCMP, citing Taiwanese officials, reports a concrete and unusually large Chinese military deployment: more than 100 Chinese navy and coast guard vessels operating across the Western Pacific, Liaoning carrier-group drills in the Philippine Sea, and 49 PLA aircraft sorties in the preceding 24 hours, the highest reported single-day total of the year. This is forward-looking geopolitical and security information rather than market commentary, with potential implications for Taiwan-related supply chains, shipping risk, defense procurement and marine insurance. Importance is set at 0.82 because the activity is materially significant but has not involved reported hostilities or a formal route closure; surprise is 0.74 because the scale and aircraft count are unusual despite ongoing Liaoning drills; confidence is 0.84 because the core figures are explicitly reported, while the full vessel count is attributed to Taiwanese officials and was not independently confirmed. The supporting context dates the reported activity to November 3, 2026, so the occurrence timestamp is estimated at the start of that UTC date rather than using the November 4 publication time, and the status remains ongoing. TSM, AMKBY, 2317.TW, RTX, LMT, SSREY, MURGY and CB are approved because the development has a clear potential channel to their semiconductor, shipping, defense or marine-insurance expectations; more indirect potential beneficiaries such as INTC, Samsung, MMC and AON are excluded. The development is not a duplicate and continues the Liaoning Western Pacific drill storyline represented by existing event 8628.