Taiwanese officials detected 53 Chinese military aircraft, 11 People’s Liberation Army Navy ships and eight other Chinese government ships operating around the island over a 24 hour period starting on Tuesday.
Twenty-three of the aircraft crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait and entered Taiwan’s northern, southwestern and eastern Air Defense Identification Zone, according to the Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense.
The number of aircraft in Wednesday’s report is less than the 66 aircraft recorded in July this year and the 103 recorded in September last year. Earlier on Monday, Taiwan’s MND stated the Republic of China Armed Forces had initiated combat readiness exercises in response to the Chinese . The MND also claimed it had detected PLAN ships from the Eastern, Northern and Southern Theatre Commands, along with China Coast Guard ships entering areas around the Taiwan Strait and the western Pacific.
“To counter PLA activities, ROC Armed Forces have initiated combat readiness exercises and will closely monitor the situation. Any unilateral provocations could undermine Indo-Pacific peace and stability. We will address all gray zone incursions and ensure our national security,” read an MND post on X.
On Tuesday, the MND reported that 47 PLA aircraft, 12 PLAN ships and nine Chinese government ships operating around Taiwan were detected between from Monday to Tuesday, and 16 of the aircraft had crossed the median line and entered Taiwan’s southwestern ADIZ. The MND denounced the activities on Tuesday.
“PLA naval deployments in the East China Sea, Taiwan Strait, and South China Sea have already created security risk and regional instability. For our national defense, regardless of Beijing’s drill announcements, ROC Armed Forces will monitor the situation and respond accordingly,” stated a post on X.
China’s military has yet to officially comment on the activities, though Beijing had been expected to carry out some form of military demonstration around Taiwan in response to Taiwan President Lai Ching-te’s visits last week to the Marshall Islands, Palau and Tuvalu, along with stops in Hawaii and Guam.
The three Pacific nations are among 11 countries in the world, along with the Holy See, that formally recognize Taiwan. During his tour, Lai posted on social media channel X that he spoke by video call to House Speaker Mike Johnson and other U.S. congressional leaders and thanked them for their bipartisan support of Taiwan.
Since Monday, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Mao Ning in her daily press conferences has told reporters asking questions on China’s drills around Taiwan to contact the relevant authorities along with stating that the Taiwan issue is the first red line that cannot be crossed in China-U.S. relations and that China will firmly defend its national sovereignty and territorial integrity. China carried out the Joint Sword-2024A exercise in May following Lai’s inauguration as President and the Joint Sword-2024B exercise in October following a National Day speech by Lai where the Taiwan President asserted Taiwan’s independence from China.
The USNI News Fleet and Marine Tracker shows the Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group currently operating in the Philippine Sea.
So far, Japan Joint Staff Office (JSO) reports on PLAN ship movements around Japan have not shown any major increase in PLAN transits en route to the waters around Taiwan. On Friday, the JSO issued a release stating PLAN destroyers CNS Suzhou (132) and CNS Shaoxing (134) and frigate CNS Zhoushan (529) were sighted on Dec. 5 at 11 a.m, sailing east in an area 49 miles west of Kuchinoerabu Island, and subsequently sailing east through the Osumi Strait to enter the Pacific Ocean. The release stated Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) helicopter destroyer JS Ise (DDH-182), fast-attack craft JS Otaka (PG-826) and a JMSDF P-1 maritime patrol aircraft (MPA) of Fleet Air Wing 1, based at JMSDF Kanoya Air Base on the main island of Kyushu, shadowed the PLAN ships.
On Monday, the JSO issued a release stating that on Saturday at 5 a.m., PLAN destroyer CNS Dazhou (135) and frigate CNS Xuzhou (530) were sighted sailing southeast in an area 74 miles northeast of Miyako Island and subsequently sailed southeast in the waters between Miyako Island and Okinawa to enter the Philippine Sea. A JMSDF P-3C Orion MPA of Fleet Air Wing 5 based at Naha Air Base, Okinawa, shadowed the PLAN ships, according to the release. Dazhou is believed to have been recently commissioned late this year and is the first ship of the flight IV variant of the Type 052D destroyer. The flight is known as the Type 052DM destroyer with nine more ships expected to enter service.
The release added that on Sunday at 7 p.m., PLAN Dongdiao-class surveillance ship Yuhengxing (798) was sighted sailing southeast in an area 99 miles northeast of Miyako Island and subsequently sailed southeast in the waters between Miyako Island and Okinawa and entered the Philippine Sea. The release stated that destroyer JS Sazanami (DD-113) shadowed the PLAN surveillance ship.
A second release on Monday stated a Chinese Y-9 electronic intelligence (ELINT) aircraft flew in from the East China Sea area, passed between Okinawa and Miyako Island, flew south over the Philippine Sea before turning back north to passed between the Okinawa and Miyako Island again, and returned to the East China Sea. The release stated fighter aircraft of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) Southwest Air Defense command were scrambled in response.
A JSO release on Tuesday showed a suspected Chinese unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) operating off Taiwan. The release stated that between the morning and afternoon of that day, a presumed Chinese UAV flew in from the East China Sea, passed between Yonaguni Island and Taiwan, reached the Philippine Sea, and then circled southwest of the Sakishima Islands before flying south. A map by the JSO showing the UAV’s flight path showed it conducting a circuit a distance away from the centre of Taiwan’s East Coast and then a second circuit a distance away off Taiwan’s southeast coast. The release stated JASDF fighter aircraft of the Southwest Air Defense command were scrambled in response.
