Taiwan Tracks Chinese 43 Warplanes, Six Vessels Near Median Line

(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) TOKYO, June 11 (KUNA) - About 43 Chinese military aircraft and six naval ships were detected around Taiwan over the 24 hours through Wednesday morning, the Taiwanese Ministry of National Defense said, according to Taiwan News newspaper.
Of those aircraft, 25 crossed the Taiwan Strait median line and entered the northern, central, and southwestern air defense identification zone between 6 am Tuesday (22:00 Monday GMT) and 6 am Wednesday, the ministry said in a press release.
An air defense identification zone, a self-declared area in which a country reserves the right to identify, locate and control approaching foreign aircraft, is not considered territorial airspace under international law.
In response, Taiwan sent aircraft and naval ships and deployed coastal-based missile systems to monitor their activity. So far this month, Taiwan has tracked Chinese military aircraft 182 times and ships 84 times.
Since September 2020, China has increased its use of gray zone tactics by incrementally increasing the number of military aircraft and naval vessels operating around Taiwan, the report said.
Gray zone tactics are defined as "an effort or series of efforts beyond steady-state deterrence and assurance that attempts to achieve one's security objectives without resort to direct and sizable use of force."
China and Taiwan separated after a civil war in 1949, but Beijing sees the island as its territory. (end)
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