Between 6 a.m. on Thursday (April 27) and 6 a.m. on Friday (April 28), Taiwan's Ministry of National Defence (MND) monitored 38 Chinese military aircraft, six naval vessels, and one military aircraft that was circumnavigating Taiwan for the first time, reported Taiwan news.
Institute of National Defense and Security Research fellow Su Tzu-yun said that Taiwan has not invested enough into surveying its surrounding waters, reported Taipei Times.
Yang Chih-yuan, a democracy campaigner and pro-independence politician, was detained by Chinese state security in Wenzhou in Zhejiang province last August, hours after then-United States House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wrapped up her high-stakes visit to Taipei.
Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense (MND) said that 13 People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) military aircraft and three People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) vessels had been tracked around Taiwan.
China's Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian on Friday said Manila should stand against the firm sovereignty claim of self-ruled, democratic Taiwan, which Beijing sees as part of its territory awaiting reunification.
French President, Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President, Ursula Von Der Leyen's recent China visit may have muddied the waters by not providing a united European strategic approach to the China-Taiwan situation.
The delegation of Italian MPs was about to fly to Taipei for the first time since November 2019. They were reportedly ready to leave on Tuesday. However, their mission was postponed to a later, as-of-yet unspecified date.
In the official release, Taiwan's Defence Ministry said, "91 PLA aircraft and 12 PLAN vessels around Taiwan were detected by 6 a.m.(UTC+8) today. 54 of the detected aircraft had crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait and entered Taiwan's southwest and southeast ADIZ."
The three-day live-fire drills started by China in response to Taiwan President Tsai Ing-Wen's recent visit to the US concluded on Monday, Al Jazeera reported.
Images of a new Air Force patch depicting a Formosan black bear punching Winnie the Pooh have gone viral in Taiwan, at a time when China conducted a three-day series of military drills across the region, Taiwan News reported.
"70 PLA aircraft and 11 PLAN vessels around Taiwan were detected by 6 a.m.(UTC+8) today. R.O.C. Armed Forces have monitored the situation and tasked CAP aircraft, Navy vessels, and land-based missile systems to respond to these activities," Taiwan's Defence Ministry said in a tweet.
French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday called for the European Union to implement its stated policy of "strategic autonomy" and argued the bloc could become a "third pole" alongside China and the US and reiterated that the EU shouldn't follow US or China on Taiwan.