Taiwan has reported that China flew 68 military aircraft and sent 10 navy vessels into areas around the self-ruled island in what appeared to be a second day of military training drills led by the Shandong aircraft carrier.
Beijing, which views Taiwan as its own territory and has not ruled out the use of force to achieve its goal, has stepped up military and political pressure on the democratic island in an attempt to reinforce its claim of sovereignty.
“Sixty-eight PLA aircraft and 10 PLAN vessels around Taiwan were detected” by about 6am on Thursday (22:00 GMT on Wednesday), Taiwan’s Defence Ministry said in a statement, referring to China’s army and navy.
The number was a dramatic jump from the previous day when Taipei said it had detected 35 warplanes.
Taiwan’s Defence Ministry said some of those planes and warships were heading to an unspecified area of the Western Pacific to “conduct joint sea and air training with the Shandong aircraft carrier”.
It said the vessel, one of two operational aircraft carriers in the Chinese fleet, was about 60 nautical miles (equivalent to about 111km) southeast of the island’s southernmost point and heading into the Western Pacific.
Link from www.aljazeera.com