Taiwan detects 6 Chinese aircraft, 8 vessels operating near its waters

Taiwan on Thursday detected six sorties of People's Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft, eight People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) vessels, and one official ship operating around the island as of 6 am (UTC+8).

According to Taiwan's Ministry of National Defence (MND), four of the six aircraft sorties crossed the median line and entered Taiwan's northern Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ).

In a post on X, MND wrote, "6 sorties of PLA aircraft, 8 PLAN vessels and 1 official ship operating around Taiwan were detected up until 6 a.m. (UTC+8) today."

It added, "4 out of 6 sorties crossed the median line and entered Taiwan's northern ADIZ. We have monitored the situation and responded accordingly."

On Wednesday, 30 PLA aircraft, seven PLAN vessels, and one official ship were detected around Taiwan's territory. Of the 30 aircraft, 23 crossed the median line into Taiwan's northern, southwestern, and eastern ADIZ.

Additionally, the MND said that two US naval vessels sailed through the Taiwan Strait from north to south on February 10.

On Tuesday, MND had detected 32 aircraft from the PLA, eight vessels from PLAN, and one official ship operating nearby its shores as of 6 am (UTC+8). The MND noted that 22 of the aircraft crossed the median line and entered Taiwan's northern and southwestern ADIZ. It also detected two balloons from China.

In recent weeks, China had visibly increased its capacity to conduct amphibious assaults on Taiwan's beaches with new naval equipment. This included the formal launch of an advanced landing helicopter assault (LHA) vessel, unique in the world, and the mass production of floating bridge docks to aid ship unloading during beach landings.

The Taiwan-China conflict remained a longstanding geopolitical issue centred on Taiwan's sovereignty. While Taiwan functioned as a de facto independent state with its own government, military, and economy, Beijing considered it a breakaway province under the "One China" policy.

Since the Chinese Civil War (1945-1949), when the Republic of China government retreated to Taiwan, China had used diplomatic, economic, and military measures to pressure Taiwan, which continued to assert its independence with strong domestic support.