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Taiwan records approach of at least 15 Chinese PLA aircraft this morning

According to the defense agency, Taiwanese aircraft and warships were dispatched to warn away the Chinese warplanes, while ground-based missile defense systems were deployed to monitor them

HONG KONG, October 26. /TASS/. At least 15 aircraft of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) flew into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone on Thursday morning, the Taiwanese defense agency said in a statement on its website.

This morning, "PLA aircraft were detected, including an H-6 strategic bomber, a KJ-500 early warning and control aircraft, J-10, J-11 and J-16 fighters, a JH-7 bomber, as well as Y-8 and Y-9 aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles. Of them, 15 aircraft crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait and flew into the island’s air defense identification zone in the central, northern and southwestern parts of it," the statement reads.

According to the document, Taiwanese aircraft and warships were dispatched to warn away the Chinese warplanes, while ground-based missile defense systems were deployed to monitor them.

On September 18, Taiwan’s Armed Forces detected 103 PLA aircraft, or a record number since at least August 2022, near the island in a 24-hour span. The Taiwanese Defense Ministry said in an annual report earlier that PLA planes and People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) vessels have been crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait and entering the island’s air defense identification zone near the island much more frequently since early August 2022, when the then Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, visited Taipei.

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. Beijing considers Taiwan a province of the People’s Republic of China.

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