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Twenty-six Chinese aircraft detected around Taiwan

Taiwan’s defense identification zone, declared unilaterally, covers an area of 492 square kilometers and considerably exceeds the island’s airspace

HONG KONG, July 5. /TASS/. As many as 26 aircraft from the Chinese People’s Liberation Army and four People's Liberation Army Navy vessels were detected near Taiwan on Wednesday, the Taiwanese Defense Ministry said.

According to the ministry, nine aircraft either entered the island’s air defense identification zone or crossed the so-called median line of the Taiwan Strait. The aircraft included four J-10 fighters, two Su-30 planes, a Y-8 anti-submarine aircraft and two J-11 fighter jets.

Taiwan’s Armed Forces "monitored the situation and tasked CAP aircraft, Navy vessels, and land-based missile systems to respond to these activities."

Taiwan’s defense identification zone, declared unilaterally, covers an area of 492 square kilometers and considerably exceeds the island’s airspace. It also spans the waters around it, the Taiwan Strait and part of the airspace over the Fujian, Jiangxi and Zhejiang provinces in mainland China.

Taiwan has been governed by its local administration since 1949 when the remaining Kuomintang forces led by Chiang Kai-shek (1887-1975) fled to the island after suffering a defeat in China’s civil war. Since then, Taiwan has preserved the flag and some other symbols of the Republic of China that had existed in mainland China before the Communists came to power. Beijing regards the island as one of its provinces.

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