While NATO meets in Washington Taiwan reports record number of Chinese military aircraft

China has fighter jets flying towards Taiwan almost daily. Now Beijing has had a record number of aircraft practicing around the island. The date coincides with a summit taking place at the same time.

During the NATO summit in the USA, China appears to be holding more military exercises off Taiwan. As of this morning (local time), the Taiwanese Ministry of Defense had recorded 66 military aircraft around its island over the past 24 hours, a record number this year, according to the authority. 56 of them had flown over the unofficial center line in the strait between China and Taiwan (Taiwan Strait). The fighter planes entered Taiwan's air defense zone (ADIZ) - not to be confused with its airspace - from the north, southwest and southeast.

Taiwan also noted seven People's Liberation Army navy ships around the island republic, which China considers a renegade province and wants to reconnect to the mainland. However, Taiwan has been led by a democratically elected government for decades. President Lai Ching-te and his Democratic Progressive Party, which is in favor of Taiwanese independence, are seen as separatists by Beijing. The People's Republic has repeatedly threatened to enforce "reunification" by military means.

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Exercise with aircraft carrier

If Chinese fighter jets penetrate Taiwan's ADIZ, the armed forces must react, for example by sending up their own military aircraft. A day earlier, the Ministry of Defense had reported an increased number of Chinese military aircraft over the center line in the Taiwan Strait. These had flown towards the Western Pacific and accompanied the Chinese aircraft carrier "Shandong" during an exercise.

The previous peak at the end of May was 62 fighter planes, which held an exercise around Taiwan shortly after Lai's inauguration. The new exercise is taking place during the NATO summit in Washington, at which the military alliance took a tougher stance against China and accused Beijing of aiding and abetting Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine.