34 aircraft, 8 naval vessels, 1 ship: China escalates military drills near..., is it a sign of...
34 aircraft, 8 naval vessels, 1 ship: China escalates military drills near…, is it a sign of…
Taipei: As many as 34 fighter jets, eight naval vessels, and one official ship have been detected operating near Taiwan's territorial waters as of 6 am (local time) on Saturday, informed the Taiwan Ministry of National Defence. The ministry stated that out of the 34 sorties, 25 crossed the median line, entering the country's north-central and southwest ADIZ.
Taiwan Ministry of National Defence took to X and informed about the incident. '34 PLA aircraft, 8 PLAN vessels and 1 official ship operating around Taiwan were detected up until 6 a.m. (UTC+8) today. 25 out of 34 sorties crossed the median line and entered Taiwan's northern, central and southwestern ADIZ. We have monitored the situation and responded,' the post read.
Earlier, Taiwan's Ministry of National Defence (MND) on Friday reported 16 sorties of Chinese aircraft, eight Chinese naval vessels and one official ship operating near its territorial waters.
In a post on X, Taiwan's MND stated, '16 sorties of PLA aircraft, 8 PLAN vessels and 1 official ship operating around Taiwan were detected up until 6 a.m. (UTC+8) today. 7 out of 16 sorties crossed the median line and entered Taiwan's northern and eastern ADIZ. We have monitored the situation and responded.'
On Wednesday, Taiwan's Coast Guard Administration (CGA) stated that it 'ejected' as many as four Chinese coast guard vessels that had entered Taiwan-controlled waters near Kinmen County, Central News Agency reported. The China Coast Guard vessels (numbers – 14603, 14608, 14609, and 14513) approached 'restricted waters' off the Kinmen Islands from the southeast of Liaoluo Bay and the southwest of Damao Mountain at around 8:50 am, as per CGA's Kinmen-Matsu-Penghu Branch.
The incident of China's incursion on Wednesday followed a similar occurrence on Tuesday, when the same Chinese vessels crossed maritime boundaries and entered Taiwan-controlled waters. These vessels stayed at the Taiwan-controlled waters for over two hours before departing, said the branch. Taiwan immediately sent its vessels to monitor the Chinese ships, Central News Agency's report said.
(with ANI inputs)
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