Taiwan’s Ministry of Defense announced that 103 warplanes belonging to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army were detected around the country.
“PLANES, MISSILES AND SHIPS WERE ASSIGNED”
In the statement, “As of 06:00 today, 103 Chinese People’s Liberation Army aircraft and 9 Chinese People’s Liberation Navy ships were detected around Taiwan. “Taiwan Armed Forces are monitoring the situation and have deployed aircraft, naval ships and land-based missile systems to respond to these activities,” it said.
“IT IS PART OF CHINA’S TERRITORY”
Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning refrained from answering the question about the flights, stating that this was not an issue that concerned diplomacy. Spokesman Mao said, “The Taiwan Strait is part of China’s territory, there is no such thing as a ‘middle line’.” He used the expression.
WHAT HAPPENED?
Following US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan in August 2022, the Chinese army had regularized military patrol activities around the island and flights across the “middle line” with ADIZ.
The separation between mainland China and Taiwan has continued since China’s civil war between Communists and Nationalists following World War II. Taiwan has had de facto independence since 1949, when the People’s Republic of China was founded.
Considering Taiwan Island as part of its territory and the Taiwan Strait as territorial waters, Beijing emphasizes the “one China” principle and opposes Taiwan’s establishment of independent diplomatic relations with world countries and its representation in the United Nations and other international organizations.
China, which also opposes the military presence of foreign countries in the region, emphasizes that it will not exclude the use of force if necessary to reunify the island with the mainland.
Source: AA-DHA