Taipei/A total of 62 Chinese warplanes and 27 ships were detected in the vicinity of Taiwan in the last 24 hours, as part of the second day of Chinese military maneuvers around the island, official sources reported this Saturday.
In its latest report, Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense (MDN) indicated that 47 of these aircraft, including SU-30 fighters and H-6 bombers, crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait and entered the southwest, southeast region. and east of the self-proclaimed Taiwanese Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ).
These 47 incursions are the most numerous recorded since April 11 of last year, when China launched a series of maneuvers around Taiwan after the meeting between the then Taiwanese president, Tsai Ing-wen, and the then president of the House of US Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, in California.
These 47 incursions are the most numerous that have been recorded since April 11 of last year
Likewise, an unspecified number of these aircraft passed just 39 nautical miles (72.2 kilometers) from the northern city of Keelung and 41 nautical miles (76 kilometers) from Cape Eluanbi, in the southern county of Pingtung. “The Armed Forces of the Republic of China (Taiwan’s official name) have monitored the situation and have employed fighter aircraft, Navy ships and coastal missile systems in response to the detected activities,” the MDN said in a statement.
In total, the MDN located 111 warplanes – of which, 82 crossed the middle line of the strait and entered the self-proclaimed Taiwanese ADIZ – and 53 ships of the Chinese Navy and Coast Guard during the two days of maneuvers, named Joint Sword-2024A (“joined sword” in English).
China launched this operation on Thursday morning as “strong punishment” for the “separatist acts related to the independence” of the island.
The Eastern Theater of Operations Command of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) launched this operation on Thursday morning as “strong punishment” for “separatist acts related to the independence” of the island and as a warning sign “against interference and provocation” by external forces.
China’s military action took place in the same week that William Lai (Lai Ching-te) assumed the presidency of Taiwan, considered a “separatist” and a “troublemaker” by Beijing. This Friday, the new island president held a video conference with his Minister of Defense, Wellington Koo, and the Chief of the General Staff, Mei Chia-shu, to discuss the activities of the Chinese Army around the island.
“The national army and I are fully aware of the movements of the communist forces and we have immediate and appropriate responses to ensure that the country and the people are safe and protected,” Lai said in a statement published on his official Facebook account, in who also asked the population for “unity.”
“The Army is on the front line to protect national security day and night. I would like to ask the (Taiwanese) people to fully support the national Army; our unity, cooperation and link with the outside world are the Army’s greatest support,” he added. China resorts to this type of maneuver for the fourth time since 2022, when it carried out the first of this caliber in response to the visit of the then speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, to Taiwan, which infuriated Beijing. and raised the tension in the strait to levels unprecedented in decades.
