Taipei, Taiwan – Taiwan reported the highest number of incursions by Chinese aircraft in the last eight months on Friday, a day after the island’s president called for “strengthened surveillance” in the face of Beijing’s military pressure around the territory.
In its latest daily report, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said that in the 24 hours to 6 am Friday, a total of 46 out of 50 aircraft, including fighter jets, bombers, drones and helicopters crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait and entered the northern, southwestern, and eastern regions of Taiwan’s self-proclaimed Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ).
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It is the highest number of incursion recorded since Oct. 14, when 111 Chinese warplanes crossed the Strait dividing line and penetrated the self-proclaimed ADIZ as part of the Joint Sword-2024B exercises, a large-scale military exercise around Taiwan.
“ROC (Republic of China, Taiwan’s official name) Armed Forces have monitored the situation and deployed CAP aircraft, Navy ships, and coastal missile systems in response to the detected activities,” the ministry said.
On Thursday, President William Lai, branded a “troublemaker” by Beijing, had asked the ministry and the National Security Team to step up monitoring and intelligence capabilities in response to China’s military activities.
“From the perspective of our country and even the Indo-Pacific region, it is worth paying special attention to the fact that China’s military pressure in the entire region of the first and second island chains has not slowed due to the situation in the Middle East,” he said.
“The actions of the two aircraft carrier groups of the Shandong and Liaoning in the relevant waters of the first and second island chains in the past few days have posed considerable risks for the Indo-Pacific region and have aroused the heightened concern of the international community.”
This intensification of Chinese air activity also occurred after the British patrol ship HMS Spey sailed through the Taiwan Strait on Wednesday, a transit that Beijing called an “intentional provocation.”
Colonel Liu Runke, spokesman for the Chinese military’s Eastern Theater Command, said in a statement Friday that the United Kingdom has distorted legal principles and misled the public with statements seeking to justify provocative actions that undermine peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.
These movements come amid heightened tensions between China and Taiwan, an island that has been autonomously governed since 1949 and considered a rogue province by the Chinese government.
China’s stated objective is to achieve “reunification” with Taiwan, a goal for which it has not ruled out the use of force.
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