HONG KONG, October 27. /TASS/. The Taiwanese military registered the approach of 35 aircraft of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and 15 warships in what was the largest mission in more than a month, Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said in a statement.
According to it, of those aircraft, 23 crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait and flew into the island’s air defense identification zone. The latest mission involved a JH-7 fighter bomber, a BZK-005 and a CH-4 reconnaissance drones, six J-10 fighter jets, six J-16 fighters, a Y-8 anti-submarine plane, a Y-9 electronic warfare aircraft, four J-11 fighters, a Y-8 surveillance aircraft and a Z-9 anti-submarine helicopter.
Taiwanese aircraft, vessels and air defense systems were dispatched to monitor them.
On September 19, Taiwan’s Armed Forces detected 55 PLA aircraft, and a day earlier, 103 Chinese aircraft, or a record number since at least August 2022, were tracked near the island in a 24-hour span.
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.