Taiwan’s defense ministry said on Saturday that eight Chinese military planes have crossed the “central line” of the Taiwan Strait separating the island from the mainland and approached its waters.
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Taiwan faces a constant threat of invasion from China, which regards the island as a province it has not reunited with the rest of its territory since the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949.
On Saturday, Taiwan’s defense ministry said 19 aircraft, including J-10 and J-16 fighter jets, were spotted around its territory.
Eight of those planes crossed the “central line of the Taiwan Strait,” an invisible border separating the island from the mainland, and approached as much as 44 km of Taiwan’s coast, the commission said in a press release.
“In addition, five Chinese naval ships conducted a joint combat patrol,” said the ministry, which was closely monitoring the situation and had deployed its patrol planes and ships in response to the incident.
Relations between Beijing and Taipei have deteriorated in recent years and China has increased its airstrikes in Taiwan’s Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ).