Chinese People’s Liberation Army Air Force aircraft on Friday afternoon flew over the sea southwest of Taiwan, the Ministry of National Defense said.
An unspecified number of Chinese H-6 bombers at about 4pm flew over the region before entering the Bashi Channel between Taiwan and the Philippines, the ministry said in a statement.
Soon after entering the Bashi Channel, the bombers returned to an unspecified base through the same route, the ministry said.
The ministry said that it monitored the flights closely with its advanced joint surveillance system, and reported no irregular action from the aircraft.
China has carried out an increasing number of drills near Taiwan since President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) first took office in 2016.
On Feb. 9 and Feb. 10, China also dispatched aircraft on a flight mission near Taiwan, the ministry said.
In those incidents, the ministry said it observed Chinese J-11 fighters, KJ-500 early warning and control aircraft and H-6 bombers flying over the Bashi Channel and into the Western Pacific Ocean, before returning to their bases via the Miyako Strait, between Japan’s Miyako and Okinawa islands, to the northeast of Taiwan
On Feb. 10, several Chinese aircraft briefly crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait and entered Taiwan’s airspace, but retreated to the western side of the line after the military dispatched F-16s and other military aircraft to meet them and issue radio warnings, the ministry said.
After the incident, the US on Feb. 12 dispatched two B-52 Stratofortress bombers on southward flights off Taiwan’s east coast, while an MJ-130J Commando II multi-mission combat transport plane flew over the Taiwan Strait, also heading south.
On Feb. 16, the US sent the USS Chancellorsville south through the Taiwan Strait.
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