As of 6 a.m. local time on Wednesday, Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defence (MND) reported the detection of 43 Chinese military aircraft and six naval vessels operating near its territorial waters. Out of the 43 aircraft, 25 crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait and entered the northern, central, and southwestern parts of Taiwan’s Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ).

In a statement shared on X, the MND said: “43 sorties of PLA aircraft and 6 PLAN vessels operating around Taiwan were detected up until 6 a.m. (UTC+8) today. 25 out of 43 sorties entered Taiwans northern, central and southwestern ADIZ. We have monitored the situation and responded accordingly.” A day earlier, on Tuesday, Taiwan’s MND had also reported 14 sorties of Chinese aircraft, six naval vessels, and one Chinese government ship operating near its waters. All 14 aircraft had crossed the median line and entered Taiwan’s southwestern and eastern ADIZ.

In a related development, Taiwan’s Coast Guard Administration (CGA) announced on Wednesday that it had expelled four China Coast Guard vessels from waters near Kinmen County, which are under Taiwans control. According to the CGA’s Kinmen-Matsu-Penghu Branch, the vessels—numbered 14603, 14608, 14609, and 14513—entered restricted waters near the Kinmen Islands from the southeast of Liaoluo Bay and the southwest of Damao Mountain around 8:50 a.m. This incident follows a similar occurrence on Tuesday, when the same Chinese vessels entered the same waters and remained for over two hours before leaving. The CGA dispatched patrol ships to monitor and respond to the situation, according to the Central News Agency (CNA).

Disclaimer: This image is taken from ANI.