(CNN) – China flew a record number of fighter jets and other warplanes near Taiwan during its large-scale military exercises on Monday, the island’s Defense Ministry said.
Taiwan has condemned the day-long military exercises, in which Chinese fighter jets, drones, warships and coast guards simulated a blockade of the self-ruled island, as “unreasonable provocation” and are the latest in a series of recent war exercises out at Beijing against its neighbor.
According to the ministry, 153 Chinese planes were detected around Taiwan in a 25-hour period between Monday and Tuesday.
Of these, 111 crossed the Median Line – an informal demarcation point in the Taiwan Strait not recognized by Beijing but which until a few years ago was highly regarded – and entered the air defense identification zone (ADIZ). Taiwan.
An ADIZ is applied unilaterally and is distinct from sovereign airspace, which under international law extends 22 km from a territorial coast. No Chinese fighter jets were seen entering Taiwan’s sovereign airspace, a step that would be considered a major escalation.
Although not directly comparable, the increase in Chinese warplanes this Monday surpassed the previous daily record from September 2023, when 103 Chinese military aircraft were found operating around Taiwan in 24 hours.
In response to the latest attacks, Taiwan’s Ministry of Defense said it used its own aircraft, naval ships and coastal missile systems to monitor the activity.
China said its military exercises were intended as a “stern wake-up call” to Taiwan’s independence forces and came days after the island’s new president, Lai Ching-te, gave a speech in which he pledged to defend Taiwan’s sovereignty against challenges from Beijing.
Taiwan is not a “subordinate” to China, Lai said last Thursday, Taiwan National Day, and Beijing has no right to “represent Taiwan.”
Chinese military exercises around Taiwan, a democracy of 24 million people, have become more frequent in recent years and tend to coincide with events that have angered Beijing.
The drills enable China to monitor Taiwan’s responses and also test the island’s own military assets, including its aging and decommissioned fleet of fighter jets.
According to analysts, Monday’s drills are part of an overall strategy to keep Taiwan under pressure and normalize war exercises.
The ruling Communist Party of China considers Taiwan part of its territory, even though it has never ruled it. He has long vowed that the island should be “unified” with mainland China, by force if necessary, although Taiwanese authorities strongly reject China’s territorial claims to it. Many of the island’s inhabitants consider themselves Taiwanese.
The People’s Liberation Army said the drills were a joint operation by the Army, Navy, Air Force and Rocket Force, and were taking place in the Taiwan Strait – a narrow body of water that separates the island from mainland China -, as well as the surrounding Taiwan.
A map published by the Eastern Theater Command showed drills conducted in nine areas around Taiwan, as well as the outlying islands closest to mainland China.
Taiwan’s Defense Ministry also said 14 warships were detected around Taiwan during the same 25-hour period. Among them was the Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning, which moved to a position on the eastern side of the island.
During the military exercise, none of the Chinese warships managed to enter Taiwan’s contiguous zone, which under international law extends 44 km from the territorial coast, the ministry said at a press conference on Monday evening.
Analysts, however, said that the drills were “very dangerous” and, because they are “getting closer and closer,” “they will leave us. [con] very short response time.”
The Chinese military said it began the Joint Sword 2024-B drills at 5 a.m. local time on Monday. At 6 pm, an updated statement announced that he had “successfully” completed the exercises.
According to a flight map provided by Taiwan’s Ministry of Defense, Chinese aircraft were seen over the island after China announced it had completed its war exercises.