BEJING, Jan 9 the approach to the island of 57 aircraft and four ships of the People's Liberation Army of China (PLA), follows from the daily report of the Taiwanese defense department.
«From 6:00 a.m. on January 8 to 6:00 a.m. on January 9, 57 aircraft and four ships of the People's Liberation Army of China were observed around Taiwan,» the ministry said in a statement.
It is noted that 28 aircraft entered the island's air defense identification zone, including three BZK-005 drones, six J-11 fighters, two Su-30s, 12 J-16s and two J-10s, two strategic an H-6 bomber and a KJ-500 airborne early warning and control aircraft.
Taiwan sent air and sea patrols to monitor the situation, and also deployed ground-based missile systems.
The situation around the island escalated in August after a visit to Taipei by Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi. In mid-November, Chinese President Xi Jinping met on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Indonesia with US President Joe Biden and told him that Taiwan is a red line in Sino-US relations «that cannot be crossed.» The American leader, in turn, reaffirmed Washington's adherence to the «one China» principle.
PRC does not recognize the sovereignty of Taiwan, considers it its province and categorically opposes its contacts with officials and military from other countries.
Official relations between the central The government of China and its island province was interrupted in 1949, after the defeated in the civil war with the Communist Party, the forces of the Kuomintang led by Chiang Kai-shek moved to Taiwan. Business and informal contacts between the island and mainland China resumed in the late 1980s.