Taiwan tracks 70 Chinese military aircraft, 11 naval ships around country

Taiwan’s Defense Ministry had detected 70 Chinese military aircraft and 11 naval ships in the vicinity of Taiwan by 6 A.M. on Monday, and its armed forces were monitoring the situation to respond to these activities.

“70 PLA aircraft and 11 PLAN vessels around Taiwan were detected by 6 a.m.(UTC+8) today. R.O.C. Armed Forces have monitored the situation and tasked CAP aircraft, Navy vessels, and land-based missile systems to respond these activities,” Taiwan’s Defence Ministry said in a tweet. “35 of the detected aircraft(SU-30*8, J-11*4, J-10*6, J-16*8, TB-001 UCAV, Y-9EW, Y-8 ASW, J-15*4, CH-4 UCAV, KJ-500 AEW&C) had crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait and entered Taiwan’s southwest and southeast ADIZ, flight paths as illustrated,” it added.

China entered the third day of the drills, which began on Saturday (April 8), immediately after Taiwan President Tsai Ing-Wen returned from the United States, where she met House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a meeting to which China strongly objected.

According to Al Jazeera, the declaration came on the same day that Taiwan’s defence ministry said it had discovered numerous Chinese air force sorties and was keeping an eye on Beijing’s missile forces.

Taiwan, on Sunday, tracked 71 Chinese military aircraft, and 9 naval ships by 6 am. “45 of the detected aircraft(SU-30*8, J-11*4, J-10*16, J-16*10, TB-001 UCAV, Y-9EW, Y-8 ASW, H-6K*2, Y-20, KJ-500) had crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait and entered Taiwan’s southwest ADIZ, flight paths as illustrated,” the Ministry said.

China, which claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, began three days of military exercises around the island on Saturday, the day after President Tsai Ing-wen returned to Taipei from Los Angeles, where she met with US House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy.