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Taiwan records approach of 15 Chinese aircraft, three ships

It is reported that five aircraft crossed the so-called midline of the Taiwan Strait and entered the island's air defense identification zone southwest of it

HONG KONG /XIANGGANG/, March 17. /TASS/. Taiwan has reported the approach of 15 aircraft and three ships of the People's Liberation Army of China (PLA) in the region near the island over the past 24 hours, Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said in a statement posted on its website on Friday.

"15 PLA aircraft and 3 PLAN vessels around Taiwan were detected by 6 a.m. (1 a.m. Moscow time)," the statement said.

According to the statement, five aircraft crossed the so-called midline of the Taiwan Strait and entered the island's air defense identification zone southwest of it. The vehicles were: a Y-8 radar reconnaissance aircraft, two J-16 fighters and two WZ-7 drones.

The PLA has been regularly patrolling the waters near the island in recent months. Tensions in the Taiwan Strait escalated after former Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi paid a visit to Taipei last August. China considers such visits as provocations and interference in its domestic affairs.

Taiwan has been governed by its own administration since 1949, when the remnants of the Kuomintang forces led by Chiang Kai-shek (1887-1975) fled there after their defeat in the Chinese Civil War. Official Beijing considers Taiwan a province of the People’s Republic of China and urges foreign countries to comply with the ‘one-China’ policy.

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