Chinese warships and aircraft operate around Taiwan overnight

Taiwan detected six Chinese military aircraft, seven People’s Liberation Army Navy ships and one Chinese official ship operating around the island in the 24 hours to 6 a.m. local time on Oct. 29, the Ministry of National Defense said on social media.

Five of the six aircraft sorties entered the northern, central and southwestern parts of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone, or ADIZ, a buffer area where Taipei asks approaching aircraft to identify themselves. The zone extends well beyond the island’s territorial airspace, and flights into it are not violations of Taiwanese airspace. The ministry said its forces monitored the activity and responded with combat air patrol aircraft, navy ships and coastal missile systems.

A map released with the report shows two separate groups of flights. Between 9:35 a.m. and 5:20 p.m. on Oct. 28, five sorties of fighters and drones operated along the median line of the Taiwan Strait, the informal boundary between the two sides, and four of them crossed it. A single fighter flew near the northern edge of the zone, north of Taiwan, between 1:55 p.m. and 2 p.m.

The ministry did not identify the aircraft or drone types, the classes of the seven navy ships, or what kind of government vessel the official ship was.

Chinese military aircraft and ships operate around Taiwan almost daily, and Taipei publishes a tally each morning. The figures vary widely from day to day. On busier days the ministry has reported dozens of aircraft, including one 24-hour period when 38 sorties and nine navy ships were detected and 31 aircraft crossed the median line. During large-scale exercises announced by China’s Eastern Theater Command, Taiwan has reported dozens of aircraft and vessels in a single day and put its forces on high alert.

The median line has no legal standing, but for decades both sides treated it as an unofficial dividing line that helped keep military aircraft apart in the narrow strait. Chinese aircraft now cross it routinely, and Taiwan’s ministry tracks each crossing in its daily reports.