Some 46 People’s Liberation Army aircraft crossed the median line in the strait in the 24 hours to Friday morning, the defense ministry in Taipei said in a statement. The ministry added that it monitored and “responded accordingly” to the moves, without providing more details.
Another 15 such warplanes were spotted later, the ministry said. China was “conducting air-sea joint training along with” naval vessels, it added. Those flights included Su-30 fighters and KJ-500 surveillance aircraft.
The flights into sensitive areas around Taiwan come after a group of US lawmakers held a rare publicly disclosed meeting with Defense Minister Wellington Koo on Tuesday in Taipei. Beijing vehemently opposes nations it has official ties with — such as the US — from having official contact with Taiwan.
Also Read: China’s loosened leash on private sector recoils in just about a month
China views Taiwan as territory that must be brought under its control, by force if necessary. Taipei rejects that stance, and the US militarily backs the democracy of 23 million people.
Beijing defended the flights on Friday, with Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun saying at a regular press briefing in Beijing that “the Taiwan question concerns China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
The Chinese military activity comes with the US deciding whether to attack Iran. On Thursday, Taiwan President Lai Ching-te told his national security team to have a full grasp of the geopolitical situation.
Officials in Taipei have long worried that the PLA may act more aggressively if the US is distracted by crises in other parts of the world. In April, the US ordered the Carl Vinson carrier strike group to the Middle East after it completed exercises in the Indo-Pacific.
Separately, Japan sailed a destroyer through the 180 kilometer (110 mile) wide strait last week, Kyodo News reported. That was the third known passage by a Japanese naval vessel, all of which have come over the past year, it said.
Earlier this month, Japan said it observed two Chinese aircraft carriers and supporting warships operating simultaneously near remote Japanese islands in the Pacific Ocean for the first time, underscoring Beijing’s advancing naval capabilities.
Also on Friday, the PLA said in a statement that the UK sent a naval vessel through the strait. Beijing condemned the UK transit on Wednesday as a “provocation,” saying it undermines peace and stability in area. The Chinese military said its forces would remain on high alert and “resolutely counter all threats.”
The voyage by the UK warship comes as London sends an aircraft carrier and other vessels into the Indo-Pacific. Port visits to Singapore, Indonesia, Japan and South Korea were planned.
Regarding the warships, Guo, the spokesman for the Foreign Ministry in Beijing, said that his nation “respects the freedom of navigation of all countries but we oppose any country using it as a pretext to provoke or infringe upon China’s sovereignty or security.”
