The Taiwanese Defense Ministry said on Friday that the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) sent on Friday 43 aircraft and five warships to the island
BEIJING (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th September, 2022) The Taiwanese Defense Ministry said on Friday that the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) sent on Friday 43 aircraft and five warships to the island.
As of 5:00 p.m. (09:00 GMT), five PLA warships and 43 aircraft were detected in the waters and airspace near Taiwan. Two J-11 fighter jets, two Su-30 fighters, 12 J-16 fighters, a BZK-005 long-range drone, two H-6 strategic bombers and KJ-500 airborne early warning and control aircraft were recorded among them, the ministry said on Twitter, adding that these vessels and aircraft crossed the so-called median line of the Taiwan Strait and entered the island's air defense zone.
According to the ministry, Taiwan sent an air patrol to monitor the situation and put anti-aircraft missile systems on alert.
The situation around Taiwan escalated after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the island in early August. China condemned Pelosi's trip, which it regarded as a gesture of support for Taiwan, and launched large-scale military exercises in the vicinity of the island.
Official relations between Beijing and Taipei broke down in 1949 after the Kuomintang forces led by Chiang Kai-shek defeated by the Chinese Communist Party in the civil war moved to Taiwan. business and informal contacts between the island and China resumed in the late 1980s. Since the early 1990s, the two sides maintain contacts through nongovernmental organizations.
