China sends 68 warplanes and 10 Navy vessels around Taiwan in 24 hours

China has flown 68 warplanes and deployed 10 navy vessels around Taiwan in a day’s span – just weeks after the US announced its first-ever transfer of military equipment to the island.

The move is the latest in military demonstrations between China, Taiwan and the US.

35 Chinese warplanes were detected

The 68 plane total came a day after Taipei said 35 Chinese warplanes were detected around the self-ruled island, with some then flying to join China’s Shandong aircraft carrier for naval drills in the Western Pacific.

Communist China claims self-ruled Taiwan as part of its territory and relations have soured since Taiwan’s independence.

When Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen came to power in 2016, Beijing ratcheted up military and political pressure on the island.

The US has long been a backer of Taiwan, and Nancy Pelosi made a visit to the island in 2022.

Transfer of military hardware to Taiwan

Last month, President Joe Biden‘s administration announced an $80million transfer of military hardware to Taiwan.

The State Department informed Congress of the $80 million package, which is small compared with recent sales to Taiwan but marks the first assistance to Taipei under the Foreign Military Financing program, which generally involves grants or loans to sovereign countries.

The State Department did not formally announce the aid or give details, but a person familiar with the notice said the assistance would involve support to improve awareness at sea.

Taiwan’s defense ministry said beginning at around 6am local time, Chinese warplanes, including J-10 fighters, had flown into the southwestern corner of the island’s air defense identification zone, or ADIZ.

‘This year, the Chinese Communist Party has aggressively expanded its armaments and continued to build various types of fighter jets and drones,’ Taiwanese Major General Huang Wen-Chi said in a statement.

Chinese aircraft crossed the Bashi Channel

Some of the Chinese aircraft crossed the Bashi Channel to carry out drills with the Chinese aircraft carrier the Shandong in the Pacific, the ministry added.

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A Chinese naval formation led by the Shandong entered the western Pacific for training, Taiwan’s defense ministry said on Monday.

Separately, more than 20 Chinese warships, including Type 055 destroyers, sailed through the Bashi Channel and Miyako Strait into the Pacific on Wednesday, a senior official familiar with security planning in the region told Reuters.

The Chinese naval maneuver, along with the training exercises by the carrier group, were an ‘obvious challenge’ to the recent military activities by the United States and its allies in the region, the person said.

‘They want to show that they got the total control of the west of the first island chain,’ the person said, referring to the area which runs from Japan through Taiwan, the Philippines and on to Borneo, enclosing China’s coastal seas.

A US and a Canadian warship sailed through the Taiwan Strait on Saturday, the U.S. Navy said, marking the second such joint mission since June and coinciding with the leaders of both countries attending the G20 summit in India.