Team News Riveting
Taiwan military had tracked 66 Chinese warplanes besides 14 warships around the country as of Sunday evening amidst uncertainty over Beijing move.
China started the four days of live-fire drills in six maritime on Thursday as retaliation for U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan last week. The exercise was supposed to conclude on Sunday. Chinese state-run media claimed on Sunday that from now on it would conduct “regular” drills east of the Taiwan Strait median line.
Of the 66 People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) aircraft, 12 crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait, including eight Sukhoi Su-30 fighter jets and four Shenyang J-11 fighter planes. Meanwhile, six Shenyang J-16 fighter planes, three Xian H-6 bombers, and one Shaanxi Y-8 anti-submarine warfare plane entered the southwest corner of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ), per the Ministry of National Defence.
In response, Taiwan scrambled combat patrol aircraft, broadcast radio warnings, and deployed missile defense systems to track the Chinese military aircraft and warships.
