Taiwan claims 54 Chinese fighter jets crossed its air defense zone on Monday

() — Taiwan’s defense ministry said 54 Chinese fighter jets crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait into its air defense identification zone (ADIZ) on Monday, while a total of 91 fighter jets Chinese were detected near the island. He added that 12 Chinese warships were also detected.

China claims Taiwan as a sovereign territory and claims it does not recognize its ADIZ.

This is the largest number of Chinese warplanes to have crossed Taiwan’s ADIZ in a single day since the beginning of this year. The highest record for daily sorties dated from October 2021, when 56 Chinese fighter jets crossed Taiwan’s ADIZ.

A flight map provided by the Taiwanese Defense Ministry showed that among the planes entering Taiwan’s ADIZ were Chinese fighters, anti-submarine aircraft and military drones. In particular, a total of 15 J-15 fighters, developed for use on Chinese aircraft carriers, were sighted in southeast Taiwan’s ADIZ, according to the Taiwanese Defense Ministry.

On Monday afternoon local time, China announced that it had concluded its three-day military drills around Taiwan.

However, on Tuesday morning local time, the Taiwanese Ministry of Defense separately stated that 14 Chinese fighter jets had been seen crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait into the Taiwan ADIZ between 6:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m., after China announced the end of the maneuvers. The Taiwanese Defense Ministry added that a total of 26 Chinese warplanes were detected near the island and nine Chinese ships.

China has not announced additional drills around Taiwan, but air raids on Taiwan’s ADIZ by Chinese warplanes have been occurring almost daily since 2020.