The Ministry of Defense in Taipei announced Monday that China has deployed 71 combat aircraft, including 60 combat aircraft, in military exercises this weekend around Taiwan.
Beijing said it conducted military exercises on Sunday near Taiwan, which it claims, is a response to “provocations” and “collusion” between the United States and authorities on the island.
Taiwan said in a Twitter post that 60 combat aircraft took part in the exercise, including six SU-30s, among China’s most advanced aircraft.
The Ministry of Defense also indicated in its daily update that 47 of these aircraft entered the air defense zone of the Democratic Autonomous Island, which constitutes the third largest daily incursion to be recorded, according to Agence France-Presse data.
China counts Taiwan, with a population of 24 million, as one of its provinces, which has not yet succeeded in reunifying it with the rest of its territory since the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949.
And she sees with dismay the rapprochement at work in recent years between the Taiwanese authorities and the United States, which has provided the island with military support against Beijing for several decades.
Beijing did not say how many aircraft had been mobilized for Sunday’s exercise, or the exact location of the exercises.
Data from Taiwan’s Ministry of Defense indicates that most of the incursions were in the southwestern end of the Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ).
Some also crossed the “center line” that runs along the Taiwan Strait.
Many countries maintain ADIZ, including the United States, Canada, South Korea, Japan, and China.
These zones are not identical to a country’s airspace, but encompass a much larger area, designed to give the country more time to identify potential enemy aircraft and respond to intrusion.
Taiwan’s ADIZ includes part of China and even includes part of the mainland.
