China sent 77 military aircraft around Taiwan over a two-day period ending yesterday morning, an uptick in its activity over the past few weeks.
Forty-one Chinese military aircraft were detected in the vicinity of Taiwan in the 24-hour period that ended at 6am yesterday, with 23 crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait and nine crossing its extension, entering the country’s northern, southwestern and eastern air defense identification zones (ADIZs), flight routes released yesterday by the Ministry of National Defense showed.
Of the nine aircraft that crossed the median line’s extension, were seven fighter jets and two drones that flew around the southwestern ADIZ and entered airspace off the country’s east coast, some flying as close as 31 nautical miles (57.4km) from Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, ministry data showed.
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of National Defense
An ADIZ is a self-declared area in which a country claims the right to identify, locate and control approaching foreign aircraft, but it is not part of its territorial airspace, as defined by international law.
Seven Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) vessels were detected in waters off Taiwan over the same period, the ministry said, adding that it was closely monitoring the situation and had deployed combat air patrol aircraft, coastal missile systems and navy vessels in response.
In the 24-hour period that ended at 6am on Friday, 36 Chinese military aircraft and seven vessels were detected around Taiwan, ministry data showed.
The latest sorties came as China on Friday fleshed out laws aimed at punishing supporters of Taiwanese independence, a move seen as raising pressure on President William Lai (賴清德) who was inaugurated on May 20.
Separately, fishers from Penghu County on Thursday spotted a PLA Navy guided-missile destroyer near the median line of the Taiwan Strait, two days after a nuclear submarine was seen in the waters around Kinmen County.
A photograph provided by a fisher showed a warship matching the description and pennant number of the Chinese Type 052C destroyer Xi’an.
The destroyer was seen at 6:35am that day, at 23° 16 minutes north, 118° 28 minutes east, or 63.5 nautical miles from Cimei Lighthouse in Penghu, the fisher told Chinese-language media.
The Xi’an was also sighted on March 8 last year, about 40 nautical miles off Pingtung. It is has an active electronically scanned array radar and a vertical launching system capable of attacking surface combatants and submarines.
Type 052C destroyers are noted for their superior long-range detection and air defense capabilities compared with to previous Chinese designs. The Xi’an is the sixth ship of its class in China’s navy.
Additional reporting by Liu Yu-ching
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