HONG KONG /XIANGGANG/, September 18. /TASS/. Taiwan has reported the approach of 103 Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft and nine 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, "103 PLA aircraft and nine PLAN vessels around Taiwan were detected by 6 a.m. (1:00 a.m. Moscow time)."

The department also pointed out that "40 of the detected aircraft had crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait or entered Taiwan’s southwest, southeast Air Defense Identification Zone." The aircraft were: Su-30, J-10, J-11, J-16 jets, a KJ-500 long-range radar detection aircraft, as well as a Y-20 tanker aircraft. 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.