Thirty-six Chinese military aircraft were spotted around Taiwan in the past twenty-four hours, the island's defense ministry announced on Friday March 22, the largest such deployment on record this year.
“Thirteen planes cross the median line of the Taiwan Strait”The ministry said the unofficial demarcation between the People's Republic of China and Taiwan, which the former does not recognize.
Within a twenty-four-hour period — running until 6 a.m. local time on Friday (11 p.m. in Paris on Thursday) — the Defense Ministry also found six warships operating around Taiwan.
Earlier in the evening, the ministry announced that twenty fighter jets, drones and transport aircraft had been spotted. Earlier, thirty-two military aircraft were spotted in a twenty-four-hour period till 6 am on Thursday.
pressures
Taiwan is an autonomous island that the People's Republic of China claims as part of its territory and intends to one day seize by force if necessary.
Beijing has intensified military and political pressure on the island since the 2016 election of President Tsai Ing-wen, who did not recognize China's demands. A number of deployments were noted shortly after the January 13 presidential election, which saw the victory of incumbent Vice President Lai Ching-de – who was sworn in on May 20 – and was not much appreciated by Beijing.
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