Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense has denounced another “joint combat readiness patrol” conducted by the Chinese military near the island, marking the second such incursions in less than a week amid sharpening geopolitical tensions between Taipei and Beijing. Military radar tracked 21 Chinese aircraft, including J-10 and J-16 fighter jets, KJ-500 early warning aircraft, and unmanned aerial vehicles, operating off the coast over a 24-hour period.
Of these aircraft, 16 crossed the strategic median line of the Taiwan Strait and entered northern, central, southwestern, and eastern sectors of Taiwan’s Air Defense Identification Zone to coordinate maneuvers with Chinese naval vessels. In response, Taiwan deployed its own aircraft, naval ships, and land-based missile systems to monitor the situation.
In an unusual move, Taiwan’s defense ministry published three military operational images showing a Taiwanese F-16 fighter jet tracking a Chinese YU-20 aerial refueling tanker flanked by two fighter jets, alongside photos of the Chinese destroyer Yinchuan captured from a Taiwanese frigate.
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This latest show of force follows a high-stakes summit in Beijing between Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump, where Xi explicitly warned that mismanaging the Taiwan issue could trigger a direct conflict.
In the wake of the meeting, Trump sparked further anxiety in Taipei by suggesting he might suspend a pending 14 billion dollar American arms package, while Taiwan’s National Security Council warned that China has deployed over a hundred naval vessels around the first island chain.
