Two Chinese balloons were also found crossing the sensitive Taiwan Strait (Representational).
Taipei, Taiwan:
Taipei’s Defense Ministry said on Saturday that more than 30 Chinese military aircraft were detected around Taiwan in a 24-hour period, the largest show of force around the island since the crucial election.
China claims Taiwan as part of its territory, and has never stopped using force to bring the self-ruled island under its control.
Ahead of Taiwan’s January 13 vote, Beijing warned voters that presidential candidate Lai Ching-te – the current vice president, whom China has called a “dangerous separatist” – would risk “war and Will bring about “fall”.
Lai nevertheless won the election and secured an unprecedented third term for the Democratic Progressive Party, which has long rejected China’s territorial claims to Taiwan.
In the 24 hours to 6:00 a.m. Saturday (2200 GMT Friday), the Ministry of National Defense detected 33 Chinese military aircraft and seven naval vessels around Taiwan, it said in a statement.
Thirteen aircraft “crossed the center line of the Taiwan Strait,” it said.
Taiwan’s armed forces “have monitored the situation and employed (air patrol) aircraft, naval ships, and coastal missile systems in response to the identified activities”.
Two Chinese balloons were also found crossing the sensitive Taiwan Strait, which separates China from the island.
The show of force also came after two US lawmakers visited Taipei to meet President-elect Lai and her running mate Hsiao Bi-khim, whom Beijing has criticized as an “independence couple”.
Lai has been vocal on this issue in the past – a threat line to China – calling himself a “pragmatic activist of Taiwan independence”.
But he has softened his stance and vowed to follow President Tsai Ing-wen’s path of maintaining the status quo while strengthening the island’s defense capabilities.
Two days after his election, the Pacific nation of Nauru announced it was switching its diplomatic ties from Taipei to Beijing – reducing Taiwan’s already short list of allies to twelve.
One of them, Tuvalu, is now being closely watched after its pro-Taiwan prime minister lost his parliamentary seat, according to election results released on Saturday.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
