Taiwan's defence ministry detects 9 Chinese military aircraft, 5 naval ships around nation
Mar 09, 2024
Taipei [Taiwan], March 9 : Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense (MND) has reported tracking nine Chinese military aircraft and five naval vessels around the nation from 6 am on Friday to 6 am on Saturday, Focus Taiwan reported.
"Among the nine People's Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft, four breached the median line of the Taiwan strait, entering the southwestern and northern corner of Taiwan's air defence identification zone (ADIZ), as per the MND."
According to Focus Taiwan, Taiwan dispatched aircraft and naval ships and deployed air defence missile systems to closely monitor the PLA's activities.
"In the current month, Taiwan has monitored Chinese military aircraft 98 times and naval vessels 50 times.
China has increased its use of gray zone tactics by incrementally increasing the number of military aircraft and naval ships operating around Taiwan since September 2020.
Gray zone tactics, as per definition, refer to "an effort or series of efforts beyond steady-state deterrence and assurance that attempts to achieve one's security objectives without resorting to direct and sizable use of force," as per Focus Taiwan.
Earlier, On Wednesday Taiwan's Ministry of National Defence (MND) tracked 14 Chinese military aircraft and eight naval vessels around Taiwan between 6 am (local time) on Wednesday.
According to Taiwan's MND, the 14 People's Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft, none of them crossed the Taiwan Strait median line or entered the southwest corner of the country's air defense identification zone (ADIZ).
In response, Taiwan sent aircraft and naval ships and deployed air defence missile systems to monitor the PLA activity, reported Taiwan News.
Till now, Taiwam has tracked Chinese military aircraft 72 times and naval vessels 35 times.
So far in March, Taiwan has spotted Chinese military aircraft 30 times and naval vessels 14 times.