Taiwan detects more than 40 fighter jets and seven Chinese military ships in its vicinity

Jul 20 (EUROPA PRESS) –

Taiwanese authorities reported on Saturday that they have detected the presence of more than 40 fighter planes and seven ships of the Chinese Armed Forces in the vicinity of the island in the context of the escalation of tensions between the parties.

Taiwan’s Ministry of Defense said that at around 6 a.m. local time, seven ships and 22 aircraft were registered around Taiwan, and that 17 of them crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait and entered the island’s air defense identification zone from the southwest and east.

Later, at around 07:22 hours (local time), the Ministry of Defense reported the appearance of another 20 fighter planes in the vicinity, 15 of which also crossed the middle line of the strait, entering the island’s air defense identification zone this time from the central area, the north, the east and the southwest.

In both cases, the country’s Armed Forces have monitored the situation and “responded accordingly,” authorities explained on social media X.

The situation around Taiwan has worsened since last year, following a visit by former US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, which was followed by a visit to Washington by a Taiwanese delegation.

Chinese authorities in Beijing have repeatedly said that Taiwanese independence will not be tolerated and that they will not rule out the use of force to prevent secession. Ties between China and Taiwan, which it considers another province under its sovereignty, were severed in 1949 after the forces of the nationalist Kuomintang suffered a defeat in the civil war against the Communist Party and moved to the archipelago. Relations were restored only at a business and informal level in the late 1980s.