Chinese “planes and warships” have crossed the “median line” of the Taiwan Strait, which separates the island from mainland China, the Taiwanese Ministry of Defense said on Friday, denouncing “highly provocative” military exercises by from Beijing.
“Starting at 11 a.m. (05:00 a.m. in Switzerland), multiple groups of Chinese warplanes and warships conducted drills around the Taiwan Strait and crossed the center line of the strait,” the official said. Department of Defense in a statement.
“This Chinese military exercise, whether launching ballistic missiles or deliberately crossing the middle line of the strait, is a highly provocative act,” he protested.
Since Thursday, China has been organizing gigantic maneuvers, mobilizing air, navy and ballistic missiles, in six maritime sectors all around Taiwan in response to the visit to the island this week by the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. United Nancy Pelosi.
>> Review the report from 7:30 p.m. Thursday on the major Chinese military maneuvers around Taiwan:
Incursions that have multiplied
An unofficial border between Taiwan and mainland China, the median line was once tacitly respected by both armies and it was rare for Chinese military planes or ships to cross it. But Chinese incursions have multiplied since Beijing declared, in 2020, that this unofficial border no longer existed.
The question of crossing the line is sensitive because the Taiwan Strait is narrow – only 130 km in places – and incursions increase the risk of accidental armed confrontation.
In recent years, however, Beijing has been making more and more incursions, mostly warplane flights, into the southwest of Taiwan’s Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) – a much larger area. than the territorial airspace of the island.
Taipei reported a spike of 49 Chinese aerial incursions into its ADIZ on Wednesday and Thursday, including 44 beyond the midline.
agences/ther