HONG KONG, July 21. /TASS/. Taiwan has reported the approach of over 50 aircraft of the People’s Liberation Army of China (PLA) in the airspace above the island over the past 30 hours, Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said in a statement on Friday.

According to the statement, 26 warplanes were detected by 6:00 a.m. local time (1:00 a.m. Moscow time), and another 25 aircraft by 07:30 a.m. Moscow time.

Of the 51 PLA aircraft, 32 crossed the so-called median line in the Taiwan Strait and entered the island’s air defense identification zone. According to the Taiwanese military, China used Su-30, J-10, J-16 fighter jets, Y-8 and Y-9 multipurpose aircraft, H-6 strategic bombers, KJ-500 airborne early warning and control aircraft, BZK-005 reconnaissance drones and Z-9 military utility helicopters. Also in the same period, 11 PLA Navy vessels were detected near the island.

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.