Taiwan detects 13 Chinese aircrafts, 7 vessels near its territory

Taiwan tracked 13 Chinese aircraft and seven Chinese vessels around its territory until 6 am on Saturday.

According to Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defence (MND), 12 of the aircraft crossed the median line and entered Taiwan’s northern, south-western, and eastern air defence identification zone (ADIZ).

It added that Taipei has monitored the situation and “responded accordingly.”

“13 PLA aircraft and 7 PLAN vessels operating around Taiwan were detected up until 6 a.m. (UTC+8) today. 12 of the aircraft crossed the median line and entered Taiwan’s northern, southwestern, and eastern ADIZ. We have monitored the situation and responded accordingly,” Taiwan’s MND said in a post on X.

Earlier on Friday, Taiwan detected 13 Chinese military aircraft and 10 naval vessels between 6 am (local time) on Thursday to 6 am (local time) on Friday.

On Thursday, MND detected 6 Chinese military aircraft and 11 naval vessels.

This latest incident adds to a series of similar provocations by China in recent months. China has increased its military activities around Taiwan, including regular air and naval incursions into Taiwan’s ADIZ and military exercises near the island.

Chinese aggression around the self-governed island has increased ever since the visit by former US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan in 2022.

Notably, Taiwan has been governed independently since 1949. However, China considers Taiwan part of its territory and insists on eventual reunification, by force if necessary.

So far this month, Taiwan has tracked over 300 PLA aircraft and around 200 Chinese ships. Since September 2020, China has increased its use of gray zone tactics by incrementally increasing the number of military aircraft and naval vessels operating around Taiwan.

Gray zone tactics are defined as “an effort or series of efforts beyond steady-state deterrence and assurance that attempts to achieve one’s security objectives without resort to direct and sizable use of force.”