HONG KONG, May 18. /TASS/. Taiwan has reported the approach of 18 Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft and four 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, 12 aircraft crossed the so-called island's air defense identification zone, which Taiwan considers the fictitious border with mainland China, and entered the island's air defense identification zone in the northern and southwestern parts 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.