At the same time, two Y-20 refuellers and two KJ-500 airborne early warning planes heading towards the Bashi Channel flew into the southeast ADIZ before continuing to the western Pacific, the ministry said.

The chart also showed four J-11s crossing the median line that notionally runs through the middle of the Taiwan Strait on the Taiwanese side and flying along the line before heading back to the mainland side.

The ministry said it had closely monitored the situation and tasked warplanes and naval ships, as well as land-based missile systems, to respond to the heightened activity.

“The continuous military harassment by the Communist forces would only further escalate the tensions in the Taiwan Strait and deteriorate the security in the region,” warned a ministry statement on Monday.

In the statement, the defence ministry called on Beijing to “immediately stop its destructive unilateral actions” and stressed that the Taiwanese military would not seek war, but nor would it avoid it.

Beijing has intensified military operations around Taiwan since then US House speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the island in August last year.

Beijing, which has vowed to bring Taiwan under mainland control, by force if necessary, regarded Pelosi’s trip as a violation of its sovereignty and a breach of Washington’s one-China policy.

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Most countries, including the US, do not recognise Taiwan as an independent state but are opposed to the unilateral change of the cross-strait status quo by force.

In response to PLA fly-bys, the Taiwanese air force set four flight-restricted zones on the eastern side of the median line, in accordance with Taipei regulations defining vital fortresses and areas.

Like the de facto median line, which used to be tacitly observed by Beijing, the arrangement is now routinely ignored by the PLA.

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Chieh Chung, a security researcher at the National Policy Foundation, a think tank affiliated with the main opposition Kuomintang party in Taipei, said the 103 sorties were the most to be detected around Taiwan since the island’s defence ministry started making the PLA’s fly-bys public in September 2020.

“That number was even larger than the 91 spotted operating near Taiwan on April 10, soon after President Tsai Ing-wen met Pelosi’s successor Kevin McCarthy in California,” Chieh said.

Like Pelosi’s trip, Beijing considered Tsai’s US transit and meeting with McCarthy to be a serious violation of its sovereignty. A series of mega live-fire drills by the PLA followed, as a means of warning the United States and intimidating the island.

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China’s military simulates precision strikes on Taiwan after island’s leader returns from US visit

China’s military simulates precision strikes on Taiwan after island’s leader returns from US visit

Chieh said the record sorties are likely to be part of the PLA’s annual high-intensity and large-scale drills between July and September – its most active time of year for military exercises – to boost combat readiness ahead of a potential cross-strait conflict.

“From where the military planes entered our ADIZ, we can see that the PLA Air Force wanted to achieve two goals through its latest mission,” he said.

“By having its warplanes fly for a long time or criss-cross along the median line on the Taiwanese side, the PLA not only hopes to squeeze into the airspace of our four restricted zones, but also wants to deny our rights to the zones in the long run.”

03:15

Taiwan holds nuclear emergency drill as mainland Chinese planes enter island’s air defence zone

Taiwan holds nuclear emergency drill as mainland Chinese planes enter island’s air defence zone

Another purpose of the operation was to familiarise the PLA crews with air and sea refuelling during long-range combat training, as evidenced by the dispatch of two Y-20 refuellers and other warplanes to the Bashi Channel that leads to the western Pacific and the South China Sea, Chieh noted.

The PLA’s recently concluded drills in the western Pacific – staged by the aircraft carrier Shandong – had the same purpose of familiarising the battle group with the Bashi Channel and western Pacific Ocean, he said.

According to Japan’s defence ministry, the exercise included several rounds of take-off and landing drills involving the Shandong’s warplanes and helicopters on Wednesday and Thursday.

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The Shandong, which skirted the southernmost tip of Taiwan last Monday and sailed to the western Pacific for combat training, ended its drills on Friday and headed to the South China Sea, the Japanese ministry said on Saturday.

Lin Ying-yu, a professor of international relations and strategic studies at Tamkang University in New Taipei City, said the Shandong drills were intended to “test the PLA’s anti-access and area denial capabilities in the western Pacific, to thwart the US and its allies’ attempt to interfere in a potential cross-strait war”.

Lin said the exercise was also a show of force by the PLA in response to recent joint drills conducted by the US and its allies in the Pacific Ocean, including in the Yellow Sea.