(Taipei) Twenty-eight military planes were detected near the coast of Taiwan on Sunday, most of them crossing the median line of the strait, the island’s authorities said.
According to Taiwan’s Defense Ministry, 20 planes detected on Sunday crossed the median line separating Taiwan from mainland China, entering the island’s air defense zone to the southeast and southwest.
The ministry also said Beijing is conducting “long-range exercises and training,” adding it is monitoring the situation with patrol planes and ships.
Beijing considers the autonomous island as part of its territory which it could one day seize by force.
Beijing-Taipei relations soured in 2016 with the arrival of Tsai Ing-wen as president, with Beijing intensifying political and military pressure on the archipelago in recent years.
Military planes regularly make incursions into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (Adiz).
The Adiz, not to be confused with the airspace of a country, encompasses a much wider area in which any foreign aircraft is supposed to announce itself to local air authorities. The Adiz of Taiwan overlaps part of that of China and even includes a portion of the continent.
Last week, Taipei reported a growing number of incursions by Chinese planes and ships.
Beijing had said its troops were on “high alert” after two ships belonging to the United States and Canada passed through the Taiwan Strait earlier this month.
Between Wednesday and Thursday morning, Taipei said it detected 68 Chinese military planes and 10 ships.
These aircraft were heading towards the Western Pacific to join the Chinese aircraft carrier Shanghai as part of training, according to the Taiwanese Ministry of Defense.
THE Shanghai is one of two operational aircraft carriers in the Chinese fleet. It was detected Monday about 60 nautical miles (111 kilometers) southeast of the southernmost point of the island.
Beijing has so far not commented on these maneuvers.
In April, Beijing conducted military exercises simulating an encirclement of the island, after a meeting between the Taiwanese president and the Speaker of the American House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy in California.
Taiwan then detected 71 combat aircraft in 24 hours, equaling a record deployment reached in December 2022.