Chinese “planes and warships” have crossed the “median line” of the Taiwan Strait, which separates the island from mainland China, Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said on Friday, denouncing Beijing’s “highly provocative” military drills.
“Starting at 11 am, several groups of Chinese warplanes and warships conducted exercises around the Taiwan Strait and crossed the middle line of the strait,” the Defense Ministry said in a statement.
Giant Chinese maneuvers
“This Chinese military exercise, whether it is the launch of ballistic missiles or the deliberate crossing of the middle line of the strait, is a highly provocative act,” the ministry said.
Since Thursday, China has organized gigantic exercises, mobilizing air, naval and ballistic missiles, in six maritime sectors around Taiwan in response to the visit to the island this week by the president of the House of Representatives of the United States, Nancy Pelosi.
An unofficial border between Taiwan and mainland China, the median line was once tacitly respected by both militaries and was rarely crossed by Chinese military aircraft or ships. But Chinese incursions have multiplied since Beijing declared, in 2020, that this unofficial border no longer existed.
Separated by only 130 km
The question of crossing the line is sensitive because the Taiwan Strait is narrow – only 130 km in some places – and incursions increase the risk of accidental armed confrontation.
In recent years, however, Beijing has been conducting more and more incursions, mostly fighter jet flights, into Taiwan’s southwestern Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ), an area much larger than the territorial airspace of the island.
Taipei reported an increase of 49 Chinese air raids on its ADIZ on Wednesday and Thursday, including 44 beyond the median line.
Source: BFM TV
