Dragon not stopping, eight Chinese warplanes infiltrated Taiwan

Taiwan’s defense ministry said eight Chinese warplanes crossed the center line of the Taiwan Strait on Saturday and came close to the island’s nearshore area, 24 nautical miles (44 km) from its coast, further escalating tensions . China’s air force has been regularly flying in the airspace around Taiwan over the past three years. Since August, it has regularly sent jets across the center line of the strait, which previously served as an informal barrier. Beijing claims democratically-ruled Taiwan as a territory of China. Taiwan’s government rejects the claims and says that only the people of the island can decide their own future.

In March, Taiwan’s Defense Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng warned that the island would have to be on alert for sudden Chinese military incursions into areas close to its territory this year. Taiwan defines its contiguous zone as 24 nautical miles from its coast. Its territorial zone is defined as 12 nautical miles from its coast, although the government has not reported Chinese aircraft entering the contiguous zone or Taiwan’s territorial airspace.

Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said in a statement that since about 8 a.m. (0000 GMT) on Saturday, it had detected 19 Chinese warplanes, including J-10 and J-16 fighters. It added that eight of them crossed the median line and reached close to the 24 nautical mile mark.