Taipei, Taiwan – Tensions in the Taiwan Strait escalated today as Taiwan’s defense ministry reported the detection of 39 Chinese warplanes and an aircraft carrier in the vicinity of the island. This development comes in the wake of a transit by a U.S. destroyer and a Canadian frigate through the Taiwan Strait over the weekend.
Between Sunday and Monday morning, Taiwan’s defense ministry observed the presence of 26 aircraft and 13 warships operating in proximity to Taiwan. In the early hours of Monday, an additional 13 planes were detected. The Chinese aircraft carrier, identified as the Shandong, was also spotted approximately 111 kilometers southeast of Taiwan’s southernmost tip, Eluanbi. It was sailing eastward and entering the Western Pacific for training purposes.
China has long considered Taiwan a breakaway province and has repeatedly asserted its intention to bring the island under its control, even if it requires military force.
In recent years, Beijing has intensified its military and political pressure on Taiwan, often conducting naval exercises and sending warplanes near the island during diplomatic engagements with Taipei. Taiwan’s defense ministry revealed that 22 of the 39 Chinese planes detected had crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait, a narrow waterway separating Taiwan from mainland China.
In response to this escalating situation, Taiwan’s defense ministry issued a statement, saying, “The military is closely monitoring the situation and has tasked aircraft, navy vessels, and land-based missile systems to respond.”
The U.S. Navy had announced on Saturday that the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Ralph Johnson and the Canadian frigate HMCS Ottawa had transited through the Taiwan Strait. The move was characterized as a demonstration of the commitment of the United States and its allies to a free and open Indo-Pacific.
The United States and its Western allies have been increasing their “freedom of navigation” operations in both the Taiwan Strait and the disputed South China Sea to assert that these are international waterways, a stance that has consistently drawn Beijing’s ire.
The latest developments add to the ongoing tensions in the region, which have seen China conducting military exercises simulating the encirclement of Taiwan, particularly in response to diplomatic interactions between Taiwan and foreign leaders, such as U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s meeting with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen in California earlier this year. The situation remains fluid, and the international community is closely monitoring these developments as they unfold.
