Taiwan detects 7 Chinese naval ships, 2 military aircraft encircling it

The Taiwan Ministry of National Defense (MND) has said that it detected seven Chinese naval vessels and two military aircraft around Taiwan between 6 am on Sunday and 6 am on Monday.

According to the Ministry of National Defence, the two People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft crossed the Taiwan Strait median line in the southwest sector of the nation’s air defence identification zone (ADIZ).

In response, Taiwan sent aircraft and naval ships and deployed coastal defence missile systems to monitor PLA activity.

The increased activity in the Taiwan Strait region comes amid growing geopolitical tensions between Taiwan and China. Taiwan has long been a point of contention for Beijing, which considers the island a renegade province and has repeatedly expressed intentions to reunify it with the mainland, even if by force.

On May 12, Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defence (MND) said that it had detected 11 Chinese military aircraft and eight naval vessels operating around the country from 6 am (local time) on Saturday to 6 am (local time) on Sunday.

According to Taiwan’s MND, eight of the 11 Chinese aircraft crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait and entered Taiwan’s Southwest Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ). In response to Chinese activity, Taiwan deployed CAP aircraft, naval vessels and coastal missile systems.

The MND has issued daily reports on Chinese military activities for the past few years, including identifying those Chinese aircraft, drones, and balloons that are found to have crossed the Taiwan Strait median line to the Taiwan side.

The median line of the Taiwan Strait served for decades as a tacit border between China and Taiwan, but China’s military has more freely sent aircraft, warships and drones across it since former United States House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in August 2022.

So far this month, Taiwan has tracked Chinese military aircraft 126 times and naval vessels 62 times. Since September 2020, China has increased its use of grey zone tactics by incrementally increasing the number of military aircraft and naval ships operating around Taiwan.

Grey 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.”