Taiwan tracks highest number of Chinese naval ships in a day

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Taiwan has detected the highest number of navy vessels around the country in a single day “in recent times,” reported Taiwan News.

According to the Ministry of National Defence (MND), sixteen navy vessels and fifteen Chinese military aircraft were detected in the vicinity of Taiwan. Taiwan News quoted, Duan Dang, a freelance writer working in Vietnam, as saying that sixteen People’s Liberation Army Navy shifts were spotted around Taiwa in a single day “in recent times.” There were fourteen vessels when US Houses Speaker Nancy Pelosi came to Taiwan in 2022.

Taiwan News was launched in 1949 and is the first English-language newspaper in Taiwan.
The MND said that Armed Forces “monitored the situation and tasked CAP (combat air patrol) aircraft, Navy vessels, and land-based missile systems to respond to these activities,” as per Taiwan News.

Among the three aircraft that had entered Taiwan’s Southwest ADIZ were Shaanxi Y-8 anti-submarine warfare plane, and two multi-role fighter Shenyang J-16s.

Beijing has sent 239 military aircraft and 94 naval ships around Taiwan so far this month. Since September 2020, China has amplified its use of grey zone tactics by incrementally increasing the number of military aircraft and naval ships operating around Taiwan.

Grey zone tactics are defined as “an effort or series of efforts beyond steady-state deterrence and assurance that attempts to achieve one’s security objectives without resorting to direct and sizable use of force,” Taiwan News reported. (TN)