The Ministry of National Defense reported renewed Chinese military activity around Taiwan yesterday, with nine aircraft crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait and warships carrying out “combat readiness patrols.”
With Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in San Francisco last week for the APEC summit, where he met with US President Joe Biden, that military activity around Taiwan had scaled down.
However, the defense ministry reported that starting yesterday morning it had detected nine Chinese aircraft crossing the Strait’s median line, which had previously served as an unofficial barrier between the countries and which Chinese planes now regularly fly over.
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of National Defense
The aircraft involved included Su-30 and J-10 fighters, as well as early warning and electronic warfare aircraft, the ministry said.
The aircraft were accompanying Chinese warships carrying out “joint combat readiness patrols,” it added.
The military sent its own forces to monitor, the ministry said.
The Chinese Ministry of National Defense did not answer calls seeking comment.
China says its activities near Taiwan are aimed at “collusion” between Taiwan separatists and the US and to protect China’s territorial integrity.
Over the past year and a half China has staged two large-scale war games around Taiwan.
Taipei rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims and says only Taiwanese can decide their future.
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