Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense said it detected two sorties of Chinese military aircraft, five vessels and two official ships operating around Taiwan’s territorial waters as of 6 a.m. (UTC+8) on Thursday. Both aircraft sorties entered Taiwan’s southwestern air defence identification zone (ADIZ), and the ministry said the Republic of China Armed Forces monitored the activity and took appropriate responses.
The MND’s update on the social platform X came a day after a larger set of incursions. On Wednesday the ministry recorded 10 sorties of Chinese aircraft, 11 vessels and one official ship operating near Taiwan. Of those 10 sorties, nine crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait and entered Taiwan’s northern, southwestern and eastern ADIZ, the MND said, adding that Taiwan’s forces monitored and responded to the movements.
The ADIZ is used by Taiwan to identify and track aircraft approaching its airspace; the median line has long been treated as an informal buffer across the Taiwan Strait, though Beijing does not recognise it as a legal boundary.
Beijing asserts sovereignty over Taiwan on historical, political and legal grounds, maintaining that the island is part of China. Taiwan, however, operates with its own government, military and economy and maintains a distinct identity. The island’s status remains a significant international and legal debate involving questions of sovereignty and self-determination, according to analyses by regional security observers such as the United Service Institution of India.
China’s claim has historical roots stretching back centuries. Beijing traces control of Taiwan to the Qing dynasty’s defeat of Ming loyalist Koxinga in 1683, though Qing administration treated Taiwan as a relatively peripheral territory. After the First Sino-Japanese War the Qing ceded Taiwan to Japan in 1895; Japan ruled the island for roughly 50 years. Following Japan’s defeat in World War II, Taiwan was placed under Chinese administration, but the sovereignty transfer was not formally settled. The Chinese Civil War ended in 1949 with the People’s Republic of China established on the mainland and the Republic of China government relocating to Taiwan; both sides initially claimed to be the legitimate government of China. Since then Taiwan has functioned as a de facto independent polity while largely avoiding a formal declaration of independence to reduce the risk of military confrontation with the PRC.
This report is based on the Taiwanese Ministry of National Defense’s statements and syndicated news feeds.
