HONG KONG, December 10. /TASS/. Taiwan’s armed forces have detected 47 aircraft and 12 ships of the People’s Liberation Army of China, as well as nine vessels of China’s government agencies, approaching the island over the past day, Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense reported.
According to its statement, 16 of the aircraft crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait and entered Taiwan’s southwestern air defense identification zone.
The Taiwanese armed forces engaged aviation, ships and coastal missile systems in response, the statement reads.
Taiwan has been governed by its local administration since 1949 when the remaining Kuomintang forces led by Chiang Kai-shek (1887-1975) fled to the island after being defeated in China’s civil war. Since then, Taiwan has preserved the flag and some other symbols of the Republic of China that had existed in mainland China before the Communists came to power. Beijing regards the island as one of its provinces and this position is supported by most countries, including Russia.