Taipei: The Taiwanese Defense Ministry said on Sunday that it had detected 58 aircraft and nine vessels of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) near the self-governed island as China continues its air and naval military drills around Taiwan.
On Saturday, China announced that its armed forces would be conducting military exercises from April 8-10 in the maritime area and airspace around Taiwan. The drills are a warning to supporters of Taiwan’s independence, as well as a measure to protect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of China, according to Beijing.
It came a couple of days after Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen met with US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and other lawmakers in Los Angeles during a transit visit to the US on her way back from Guatemala and Belize.
According to Taiwan’s defense ministry, 58 PLA aircraft — including fighter jets J-10, J-11 and J-16, an H-6 jet bomber, and a Y-20 cargo aircraft, among others — were detected until 12 p.m. local time (04:00 GMT) on Sunday.
Thirty-one of the detected aircraft crossed the so-called median line of the Taiwan Strait and entered the island’s air defense zone, the ministry said, adding that nine Chinese warships were also detected around the island.
Taiwan has been governed independently from mainland China since 1949. Beijing views the island as its province, while Taiwan — a territory with its own elected government — maintains that it is an autonomous country but stops short of declaring independence. Beijing opposes any official contacts of foreign states with Taipei and considers Chinese sovereignty over the island indisputable.
