HONG KONG /XIANGGANG/, September 11. /TASS/. Taiwan has reported the approach of 26 Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft and 13 People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) warships in the region adjacent to the island, Taiwan’s defense department said in a statement.

According to it, "twenty-six PLA aircraft and thirteen PLAN vessels around Taiwan were detected by 5 a.m. (midnidnight Moscow time - TASS) today."

The department also pointed out that "from 5:40 a.m. (0:40 a.m. Moscow time), we detected 13 PLA aircraft (including J-16 [fighter jets], Su-30 [fighter jets], KJ-500 [long-range radar detection aircraft], UAVs, etc.), eleven of which crossed the median line or entered our southwestern Air Defense Identification Zone." "In addition, PLAN aircraft carrier Shandong sailed east 60 nautical miles southeast of Cape Eluanbi into the Western Pacific," the statement said.

Taiwan's army "have monitored the situation and tasked CAP aircraft, Navy vessels, and land-based missile systems to respond these activities," the statement added.

The Taiwan Air Defense Identification Zone is unilaterally declared by the island and covers an area of 492,000 square kilometers, far exceeding the island's airspace. It also covers the surrounding waters, the Taiwan Strait and part of the airspace over the mainland Chinese provinces of Fujian, Jiangxi and Zhejiang.

Taiwan, China’s largest island, has been governed by its local administration since 1949. Official Beijing considers Taiwan a province of the People’s Republic of China. Washington remains Taipei’s key supplier of weapons and military hardware.