Taiwan’s Defense Ministry has announced that it had detected nine Chinese warships and 26 aircraft around the island on Tuesday, a day after Beijing ended its military drills.
China “mobilized military aviation this morning and crossed the median line from the north, center and south,” the ministry said, referring to the unofficial dividing line in the Taiwan Strait between Taiwan and the mainland.
The ships were detected around 11:00 local time, it added. China launched three days of military exercises around Taiwan on Saturday that included simulated airstrikes and an encirclement of the island.
This show of force was Beijing’s response to the meeting between Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and the leader of the US House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, last week.
On the eve, the ministry detected 12 warships and 91 Chinese aircraft around the island on the last day of these military exercises.
In addition, 54 aircraft penetrated Taiwan’s air defense identification zone, the largest one-day raid since October 2021.
During the exercises, J15 fighter jets took off from the aircraft carrier Shandong, the ministry added.
China regards this island of democratic and self-government as part of its territory and advocates retaking it in the future.
Taiwanese leader Tsai condemned the military exercises on Monday, saying security teams “will continue at their posts and defend the country.”
For its part, the Chinese army declared that it had “successfully completed” the exercise that included the “sealing” of Taiwan, with dozens of planes practicing an “air blockade”, according to state media.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
