Taiwan says it detected 45 Chinese aircraft in 24 hours, highest number this year
Taipei, Taiwan (AFP) February 27 - Taiwan said Thursday it detected 45 Chinese aircraft near the self-ruled island, the highest number this year and a tally that comes a day after Taipei condemned China's "live-fire" drills off the south.
China insists democratic Taiwan is part of its territory and has threatened to use force to bring the island under its control.
Two Taiwanese Air Force Mirage 2000 fighter jets are seen at an air force base in Hsinchu on February 27, 2025. Taiwan said on February 27 it detected 45 Chinese aircraft near the self-ruled island, which is the highest number this year and comes a day after Taipei condemned China's "live-fire" drills off the south. (Photo by I-HWA CHENG / AFP)
Beijing has increased the deployment of fighter jets and naval vessels around Taiwan in recent years to press its claim of sovereignty, which Taipei rejects.
In the 24 hours to 6:00 am (2200 GMT on Wednesday), 45 Chinese aircraft and 14 warships were spotted near Taiwan, Taipei's defence ministry said in a statement.
It was the highest number of Chinese aircraft detected this year and the most since December 11, an AFP tally of the ministry's daily figures shows.
Taiwan said Wednesday that China staged a combat drill with aircraft and warships and announced "live-fire exercises" in an area about 40 nautical miles (74 kilometres) off the island's south, which Taipei condemned as dangerous and a violation of "international norms".
Taiwan's military responded by sending forces to "monitor, alert and respond appropriately", the ministry said.
Beijing on Thursday rejected the "pure hype" from Taiwan over what it called "routine training".
"We request that they stop playing this kind of game to attract interest," defence ministry spokesman Wu Qian told a monthly press briefing.
Taiwan's Presidential Office on Thursday issued a "severe condemnation" of China's actions, which it called a "blatant provocation".
Its foreign ministry urged the international community "to continue to pay attention to the security of the Taiwan Strait and the region".
(FILES) Taiwanese air force Indigenous Defense Fighter aircraft taxi for take-off during a scramble as part of a combat readiness exercise at the Ching Chuan Kang Air Base in Taichung on January 7, 2025. Taiwan dispatched forces on February 26, 2025 in response to "live-fire" drills conducted by China off the self-ruled island, Taipei's defence ministry said, condemning the exercises as dangerous.
(Photo by I-HWA CHENG / AFP)
On Tuesday, Taiwan seized a Chinese-crewed cargo ship suspected of severing a subsea telecoms cable serving Taiwan's Penghu island group.
There is growing concern in Taiwan over the security of its cables after a Chinese-owned cargo ship was suspected of cutting one northeast of the island this year.
Taiwan fears China could sever its communication links as part of an attempt to seize the island or to blockade it.
China's state news agency Xinhua on Wednesday quoted senior Communist Party official Wang Huning as saying China must "firmly support the patriotic unification forces on the island... and shape the inevitable unification of the motherland".
- Flashpoint -
Taiwan is a potential flashpoint for a war between China and the United States, which is the island's most important backer and biggest arms supplier.
While the United States is legally bound to provide arms to Taiwan -- which Beijing opposes -- Washington has long maintained "strategic ambiguity" when it comes to whether it would deploy its military to defend it from a Chinese attack.
Despite long-standing strong bipartisan support in the US Congress for Taiwan, there are fears that US President Donald Trump might not consider the island worth defending if China attacked.
Asked Wednesday if he would stop China taking control of Taiwan by force, Trump said "I never comment on that".
Taiwan President Lai Ching-te has already vowed to boost investment in the United States to reduce the trade imbalance and spend more on the island's military, while his government is also considering increasing US natural gas imports.
The dispute between China and Taiwan dates back to 1949 when Chiang Kai-shek's Kuomintang nationalist forces fled to Taiwan after losing the Chinese civil war with Mao Zedong's communist fighters.
Communist China has never ruled Taiwan, where indigenous tribes have lived for thousands of years. The island was partly or totally ruled at various times by the Dutch, Spanish, China's Qing dynasty and Japan.
