Thursday’s new record comes after the Taiwanese government said the day before that Chinese aircraft were heading to the Western Pacific for exercises with the Chinese aircraft carrier Shandong.
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Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said Thursday it had detected 66 Chinese military aircraft around the island in a 24-hour period, a record number since the beginning of the year, a day after military exercises in the surrounding waters. Of those, 56 crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait, which bisects the 180-kilometer-wide strait between the island and mainland China.
Beijing claims democratically-ruled Taiwan as part of its territory and has said it will never renounce the use of force to seize control of the territory. The Chinese government has stepped up pressure on Taipei in recent years.
Thursday’s new record comes after the Taiwanese government said the day before that Chinese planes were heading to the Western Pacific for exercises with the Chinese aircraft carrier Shandong, as part of a maritime and air training exercise. The Taiwanese ministry said it had “monitored the situation and responded accordingly”.
