Taiwan has said that 30 Chinese military aircraft were detected around the island in a 24-hour window, one of the highest this year.
Taiwan’s defence ministry said 20 of the aircraft crossed into the island’s so-called Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ).
The statement said that Taipei “monitored the situation and employed [patrol] aircraft, Navy vessels, and coastal missile systems in response to the detected activities”.
“30 PLA aircraft and 9 PLAN vessels operating around Taiwan were detected up until 6 a.m. (UTC+8) today. 20 of the aircraft entered Taiwan’s northern, middle line, and SW ADIZ. #ROCArmedForces have monitored the situation and employed appropriate force to respond,” Taiwan Ministry of National Defence posted on X.
This comes a month after Taiwan detected 36 Chinese warplanes around the island over a 24-hour period.
According to Taiwan news, in March, Taiwan tracked 359 Chinese military aircraft and 204 naval vessels.
There has been a rise in the use of grey zone tactics – moves that fall short of outright acts of war since 2020 with a rise in the numbers of military aircraft and naval ships operating around Taiwan.
China has increased the deployment of air planes and naval vessels around Taiwan on a near-daily basis since the 2016 election of President Tsai Ing-wen, who considers Taiwan “already independent” — a red line for Beijing.
The current vice-president Lai Ching-te is also disliked by Beijing who won the elections on January 13.
Beijing has claimed Taiwan as part of its territory and has halted high-level communications with Tsai’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) since her 2016 election and ramped up military, diplomatic and economic pressure on the island nation.
Tensions between the countries rose over a fatal fishing boat incident. A Chinese boat carrying four people capsized on February 14 near Taiwan’s Kinmen islands while being pursued by the Taiwanese coast guard, killing two people while the other two survived.
