The authorities of Taiwan They reported this Saturday that they detected the presence of twelve fighters and eight ships of the Armed Forces of the China regime in the vicinity of the island in the context of increased tension between the parties.
The Taiwanese Ministry of Defense indicated that at 6:00 a.m. (local time) the presence of eight ships and twelve aircraft was recorded around its territory and highlighted that seven of them crossed the midline of the strait from Taiwan and entered, from the southwest, into the air defense identification zone of the island.
Likewise, as added by the authorities through the X social network, the country’s Armed Forces monitored the events and responded “consequently.”
On Thursday a drone from China Army It flew over the southern and eastern regions of the island, passing just 39 nautical miles (72 kilometers) from Hualien County, on the territory’s eastern coast.
The unmanned aircraft began its journey at 2:27 a.m. local time and ended at 11:05 a.m. the same day, the military ministry said in its daily report, in which no further details were offered about the device that surrounded the island.
In recent months, Chinese warplanes have intensified their harassment around Taiwanforcing the island government to update its definition of “first attack” to adapt it to this new reality.
Last week, the Taiwanese Minister of Defense, Wellington Kooassured that if Chinese forces enter the airspace or territorial waters of Taiwan, which extend 12 nautical miles (22 kilometers) from its coasts, or undertake a first attack against the island, the Army can exercise the right to self-defense and launch counterattacks in response.
The situation around Taiwan worsened last year, after the visit of the now former president of the United States House of Representatives Nancy Pelosiwhich was followed by a visit to Washington by a Taiwanese delegation.
From Beijing, the Chinese authorities have reiterated on numerous occasions that the Taiwan independence will not be tolerated and that they will not rule out the use of force to prevent secession.
Ties between China and the island of Taiwan, which it considers another province under its sovereignty, were severed in 1949, after the forces of the nationalist party Kuomintang suffered a defeat in the civil war against the Communist Party and moved to the archipelago. Relations were reestablished only at a business and informal level in the late 1980s.
Last Tuesday, Taiwan authorities arrested a former member of the Chinese navy who arrived in Taipei aboard a boat with the possible intention of testing the island defensive capabilitiesaccording to official Taiwanese sources.
The Taiwan Coast Guard (CGA) detected the incursion of a “suspicious boat” six nautical miles (eleven kilometers) off the coast of Tamsui, north of the capital, according to a statement released by the organization.
The vessel later entered the Tamsui River, which flows through the west of the city, and collided with several ships at the district’s ferry terminal; CGA agents confiscated the boat – registered in China – and “immediately” detained the man, who is under judicial investigation.
(With information from Europa Press, EFE and AFP)
