HONG KONG /XIANGGANG/, December 12. /TASS/. Taiwan has reported the approach of 20 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 the defense department, a Z-9 anti-submarine warfare helicopter entered the island's air defense identification zone in the southeast of the island.

Taiwan's army responded by deploying aircraft, ships and land-based anti-aircraft missile systems to monitor the targets, the statement said.

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 and urges foreign countries to comply with the ‘one-China’ policy.