More than 40 Chinese warplanes were detected around Taiwan in a day, the self-ruled island’s defence ministry said yesterday.
Beijing claims democratic Taiwan as its own territory to be seized one day, by force if necessary, and has ratcheted up military and diplomatic pressures on the island this year.
Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defence said in a daily statement that 43 Chinese aircraft and 7 naval vessels were detected around the island in a 24-hour period leading up to 6:00 am yesterday (2200 GMT Tuesday).
The ministry said “37 of the detected aircraft had crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait and entered Taiwan’s southwest and southeast (air identification zone) ADIZ”.
The median line bisects the 180-kilometre (110-mile) waterway separating the island from China.
