Taipei, Feb. 7 — Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense said it tracked six sorties by People’s Liberation Army aircraft and seven People’s Liberation Army Navy vessels operating near Taiwan’s territorial waters through 6 a.m. (UTC+8) on Saturday. According to the MND, five of the six aircraft entered Taiwan’s southwestern and eastern Air Defense Identification Zone; authorities said they monitored the activity and took appropriate responses.
The announcement followed a Friday report in which the MND recorded eight PLA aircraft sorties and six PLAN vessels. In that earlier report, six of the eight aircraft crossed the median line and entered Taiwan’s southwestern and eastern ADIZ, the ministry said.
The reports come as the United States convened a multinational meeting this week on critical minerals, an initiative viewed as aimed at reducing China’s dominance in that sector. Separately, U.S. President Donald Trump spoke by phone with Chinese President Xi Jinping; Trump posted on Truth Social that the call was “excellent,” confirmed a planned visit to China in April, and described relations with China as “extremely good.” He said the leaders discussed trade, military issues, Taiwan, the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, China’s purchases of U.S. oil, gas and agricultural products, airplane engine deliveries, and other topics, and he expressed expectations of positive developments on China-related matters over the next three years of his presidency.
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