Taiwan detected a record 153 Chinese military aircraft around the self-ruled island after a day of massive exercises by China, official data showed on Tuesday.
The aircraft were spotted in the 25 hours to 6:00 a.m. Tuesday (2200 GMT Monday) – the most in a single day, the Defense Ministry said in a statement.
Beijing deployed fighter jets, drones, warships and coast guard boats to surround Taiwan on Monday, with Taiwan responding by sending “appropriate forces” and putting its outlying islands on high alert.
Taiwan described China’s actions as “irrational and provocative”, and the US called them “unfair”.
Japan said on Tuesday it had expressed its “concerns” over China’s drills and deployed fighter planes near its southern island of Yonaguni.
“The government is closely following related developments with great interest and has conveyed Japan’s concerns to the Chinese side,” Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Kazuhiko Aoki told reporters.
China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and insisted on Monday that it would never abandon the use of force to bring the island under its control.
Beijing has increased military pressure on Taipei in recent years to accept its claims of sovereignty over the island, and Monday represented the fourth round of large-scale exercises in just two years.
Taiwan’s Defense Ministry also recorded 14 Chinese navy ships in the latest 25-hour period, slightly less than the 17 announced Monday afternoon.
The data showed that 111 of the spotted planes crossed the center line of the sensitive Taiwan Strait that separates mainland China and Taiwan.
‘Inappropriate’
The United States said on Monday China’s actions were “inappropriate” and risked “escalation” as it called on Beijing to exercise restraint.
China said the exercise, named Combined Sword 2024B, was conducted in areas in the north, south and east of Taiwan.
Beijing declared them over at around 6 pm on Monday, about 13 hours after they started.
China said the drills served as a “strong warning to the separatist acts of Taiwan independence forces”.
Taiwanese President Lai Ching-tey, who took office in May, has been more vocal in defense of Taiwan’s sovereignty than his predecessor Tsai Ing-wen, angering Beijing, which calls him a “separatist.”
In his National Day speech on Thursday, Lai vowed to “resist annexation” and stressed that Beijing and Taipei are “not subservient to each other”.
Lai pledged on Monday to “defend democratic Taiwan and safeguard national security.”
In late May, three days after Lai’s inauguration, China launched Joint Sword-2024A, an apparent precursor to the latest exercise.
The dispute between China and Taiwan dates back to a civil war in which Chiang Kai-shek’s nationalist forces were defeated by Mao Zedong’s communist fighters in 1949 and fled to the island.
Since then, China and Taiwan have been ruled separately.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
