Taiwan has reported detecting at least 84 Chinese warplanes and 33 warships near its territory over three days as the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) conducts one of its largest joint sea and air drills in the Western Pacific in months.
Between Wednesday and Thursday morning, Taiwan’s defense ministry detected 68 PLA aircraft and 10 People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) vessels near Taiwan. The previous day, Taiwan reported detecting 35 warplanes around the island.
The defense ministry noted that some of the planes and warships detected on Wednesday were heading to an unspecified location in the Western Pacific to conduct joint sea and air training with the Shandong aircraft carrier.
The Shandong is the first aircraft carrier built by mainland China and the PLA’s second battle group. Taiwan’s defense ministry reported that it was spotted 60 nautical miles off Taiwan’s southernmost tip on Monday as it headed for combat training.
Twenty-eight of the aircraft crossed the median line into Taiwan’s southwest air defense identification zone (ADIZ), which is the de facto boundary separating the island from the mainland in the Taiwan Strait. Some of the warplanes continued towards the western Pacific through the Bashi Channel to join the Shandong for joint sea and air training.
China has not officially commented on the drills in the Western Pacific, but its Eastern Theatre Command, responsible for organizing drills around Taiwan, mentioned that an “aviation unit” had recently conducted training over a range of “thousands of kilometers,” although it did not specify Taiwan.
The presence of the Shandong aircraft carrier has raised concerns in Taiwan. Major General Huang Wen-chi, of the ministry’s general staff for intelligence, stated that the Shandong, accompanied by new destroyers such as the Type 052C and Type 052D, poses a significant threat to Taiwan’s near-sea and coastal defense, even though the carrier does not yet possess full capabilities in air and sea strikes.
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