Taiwan tracks 6 Chinese naval ships, 4 military aircraft, deploys forces

Taiwan tracked six Chinese naval vessels and four military aircraft around the nation amid escalating cross-strait tensions on Sunday, Taiwan News reported.

Taiwan's Ministry of National Defence (MND) said that the Chinese vessels and aircraft were tracked between 6 am (local time) on Saturday and 6 am (local time) on Sunday.

In response, Taiwan sent aircraft and naval ships and deployed air defence missile systems to monitor the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) activity, according to the MND.

No PLA aircraft crossed the Taiwan Strait median line or entered the southwest corner of the country's air defence identification zone (ADIZ) during that time.

Earlier on Saturday, Taiwan detected eight Chinese military aircraft and five naval vessels operating around the nation.

It also detected five Chinese naval vessels and four military aircraft on Friday.

Notably, so far in March, Taiwan has tracked 359 Chinese military aircraft and 204 naval vessels, according to Taiwan News.

Since September 2020, China has increased its use of gray zone tactics by incrementally increasing the number of military aircraft and naval ships operating around Taiwan.

Gray zone tactics are defined as "an effort or series of efforts beyond steady-state deterrence and assurance that attempts to achieve one's security objectives without resort to direct and sizable use of force," Taiwan News reported.

Meanwhile, the Taiwan military condemned the filming by drones by Chinese netizens on the outlying island of Erdan near Kinmen on Saturday, Taiwan News reported.

Rumours circulated online suggesting that unmanned aerial vehicles had captured footage of military movements on the Taiwanese-held island, within view of the Chinese city of Xiamen.

The Kinmen Defence Command said local officers could take appropriate measures based on the threat level the drones posed. The military blamed some Chinese netizens for the provocative behaviour, which could easily escalate into a serious incident.