Taiwan's defense ministry said 25 Chinese aircraft approached in 24 hours

The armed forces of the Chinese island province of Taiwan have detected 25 aircraft and seven ships of the People's Liberation Army of China (PLA) near the island. Taiwan's Ministry of Defense said on its X (former Twitter) page on Nov. 23.

"25 PLA aircraft and seven PLA ships moving around Taiwan were detected before 6:00 (1:00 Moscow time - Ed.) today," the ministry said in a statement.

It specified that monitoring began at 6:00 Moscow time on November 22. During the day, 13 aircraft of the Chinese Air Force crossed the midline of the Taiwan Strait and entered the southwestern and southeastern air defense zones of Taiwan. The provincial armed forces monitored the situation and responded appropriately.

Taiwan used aircraft and ships to monitor the targets, and land-based surface-to-air missile systems (SAMs) were on standby.

Earlier, on Nov. 13, the provincial Defense Ministry reported 24 aircraft and six Chinese PLA ships recorded near the province overnight. At the same time, 15 aircraft of the Chinese Army crossed the midline of the strait.

Prior to that, Reuters reported on October 16 that the PRC would use weapons if it saw a threat from Taiwan. Chen Binhua, chairman of the Taiwan Affairs Office under China's State Council, said the province would be destroyed in the event of an escalation regardless of whether any states assisted it.

The escalation of the conflict between China and Taiwan came after U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the island in August 2022. The Chinese side considers Taiwan to be its own territory, so it views visits to the island by officials from other countries as support for Taiwan's independence.

Official relations between the PRC government and its island province broke down in 1949 when the Kuomintang forces led by Chiang Kai-shek, who lost in a civil war with the Communist Party of China, moved to Taiwan. Contacts between the island and mainland China resumed in the late 1980s. The U.S. openly supports the Taiwanese authorities.