Taiwan's defense ministry said Thursday that a total of 72 Chinese aircraft and eight warships were spotted around Taiwan in about 30 hours, as Western military vessels passed through the Taiwan Strait.
• Read also: Taiwan detects 66 Chinese military aircraft around island, a single-day record
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The ministry initially reported 43 aircraft entering Taiwan's “air defense identification zone (ADIZ)” and eight ships, saying the movements occurred over a 24-hour period ending at 6 a.m. Thursday (10 p.m. GMT Wednesday).
At around 1pm (5am GMT), it announced that 29 additional aircraft had been spotted on Thursday morning.
The Taiwanese ministry confirmed that “21 of them crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait.”
The surge in incursions comes after several Western military ships passed through the strait on Wednesday.
A Japanese warship passed through the Taiwan Strait for the first time on Wednesday, Japanese media reported Thursday, a report the Japanese government declined to comment on.
Hours later, New Zealand said it had sent a military ship through the strait on Wednesday, along with an Australian vessel. The United States, Canada and Germany have also recently sent ships through the strait.
China, which claims the democratic island as part of its territory, considers the Taiwan Strait its territorial waters and regularly sends fighter jets, drones and ships around Taiwan.
However, such a large number of aircraft have not been detected since July 11, when Taipei reported 66 Chinese military aircraft in 24 hours, a record.
China has said it does not rule out the use of force to seize control of Taiwan if necessary, and has intensified military and political pressure on the island in recent years.
