New threat from China, Taiwan detected fighter planes and ships in the air and sea space of the island

Taiwan detected fighter jets and ships in the air and sea space of the island. (REUTERS/Dado Ruvic)

The Taiwan Ministry of Defense reported on Wednesday that eight combat planes and three Chinese Army ships have approached its air and sea space, as they have been doing repeatedly in recent weeks.

As detailed by the Defense portfolio in a statement released on the social network Twitter, at least “eight planes and three ships of the People’s Liberation Army of China were detected” in their surrounding region at 6:00 a.m. (local time).

Of the total fighter jets, two had entered the air defense identification zone in southwest Taiwan.

In response, the Taiwan Armed Forces are monitoring the situation and have assigned aircraft to conduct combat air patrols to protect the Taiwan area.

Chinese regime planes fly over the island of Taiwan. (Li Bingyu/Xinhua via AP)

Navy ships and land-based missile systems have also been mobilized to respond to “these activities” by China, according to the Taiwanese Defense Ministry.

The escalation of tensions in the region began with the trip to the island of the then Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, in August of last year.

Since then, China has launched a series of military exercises around the island it claims as its own.

On Monday Taipei detected more than fifty combat aircraft and four Chinese Army ships near the island, at least 28 of them reportedly entered the Taiwanese air defense identification zone.

After these exercises, the first of this caliber registered this year, the Taiwanese Army sent planes, Navy ships and land missile systems “to respond to these activities,” says the ministerial portfolio.

These movements have occurred after the Chinese authorities denounced the arrival on Monday of a group of German politicians to the island, a trip in which they will meet with the president, Tsai Ing Wen, and other senior government officials.

Taiwan’s pro-democracy President Tsai Ing Wen. (Office/Handout via REUTERS)

This is the first German delegation to visit Taiwan this year and the third, from Berlin, in the last three months, as reported by the island’s Foreign Ministry.

Chinese military aircraft sorties into Taiwan’s air defense zone nearly doubled in 2022, with the use of bombers and fighters picking up as Beijing steps up its threats against the island.

Self-governing Taiwan lives under the threat of an invasion from China, whose government claims the island is part of its territory and has vowed to take it back.

Relations between the two sides have been strained under Chinese President Xi Jinping and brutally deteriorated in 2022.

China sent 1,727 aircraft to Taiwan’s ADIZ in 2022, according to an AFP database based on daily updates released by Taipei’s defense ministry.

The figure far exceeds the 960 incursions in 2021 and the 380 in 2020.

(With information from Europa Press)

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