Taiwan detects 35 Chinese aircraft around island

Taiwan’s defense ministry said Thursday it had detected 35 Chinese military aircraft around the island in a 24-hour window.

China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has said it will never renounce the use of force to bring the self-ruled democracy under its control.

 The Taiwanese military registered the approach of 35 aircraft of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and seven warships of the PLA Navy near the island in the past day, Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense said in a statement.

According to it, 33 aircraft crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait and flew into the island’s air defense identification zone in the northern, central, southwestern and southeastern airspace of Taiwan.

Aircraft, vessels and ground-based air defense systems were dispatched by the Taiwanese Army to monitor them.