China considers the self-government of Taiwan to be its own territory and does not rule out the possibility of using force to regain control of the island.
Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said 20 of the aircraft spotted had flown into the island’s so-called Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ).
Taiwan’s armed forces “monitored the situation and deployed (patrol) aircraft, naval vessels and coastal missile systems in response to the observed actions,” the ministry said in a statement.
Last month, Taiwan spotted as many as 36 Chinese military planes near the island in a day – so far this is the highest number of them recorded this year.
Such incursions are becoming more frequent and reflect a so-called “grey zone” pattern of actions that cannot be unequivocally considered acts of war.
These incidents increased especially after the 2016 Tsai Ing-wen, who considers Taiwan “already independent”, was elected president, thus crossing the red line drawn by Beijing.
Chinese military planes and ships are on patrol near Taiwan almost every day, and Chinese aerostats are increasingly flying over the island.
January 13 the current vice president of Taiwan, Lai Ching-te, who is disliked by Beijing, won the presidential election.
Vice President-elect Hsiao Bi-khim, who represents Lai Ching-te and the ruling Progressive Democratic Party, will take office on May 20.
