The Taiwanese Defense Ministry said that it had detected 71 jets and nine vessels of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) approaching Taiwan on Saturday as part of the Chinese air and naval military exercises around the island.
Earlier in the day, China announced that its armed forces would be conducting military exercises from April 8-10 in the maritime area and airspace around Taiwan. The drill is a warning to supporters of Taiwan’s independence, as well as a measure to protect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of China, according to Beijing. It came a couple of days after Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen met with US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and other lawmakers in Los Angeles during a transit visit to the US on her way back from Guatemala and Belize.
“71 PLA aircraft and 9 vessels were detected by 16:00(UTC+8) (08:00 GMT) on April 8th. 45 of the detected aircraft had crossed northern, central, and southern median line of the Taiwan Strait and entered our southwest ADIZ (air defense identification zone),” the defense ministry tweeted.
Taiwan has been governed independently from mainland China since 1949. Beijing views the island as its province, while Taiwan � a territory with its own elected government � maintains that it is an autonomous country but stops short of declaring independence. Beijing opposes any official contacts of foreign states with Taipei and considers Chinese sovereignty over the island indisputable.