• 47 Chinese planes cross the Taiwan Strait, the most in previous months.
• Taiwan’s military sent combat planes, ships, and land-based missiles.
• China calls navy maneuvers near Japan “attack drills”.

China increased efforts to legitimize aggressive military operations around the autonomous island on Sunday by sending 47 aircraft across the Taiwan Strait, its largest incursion into Taiwan’s air defense zone in recent months.

According to the Taiwanese defense ministry, the incursions were carried out by 42 J-10, J-11, J-16, and Su-30 fighter planes, two Y-8 maritime patrol aircrafts, a KJ-500 early warning aircraft, a CH-4, and a WZ-7 military drone.

It further stated that 71 Chinese aircraft had been observed flying over the island and that Taiwan’s military had dispatched combat air patrol planes, navy ships, and land-based missile systems in response.

The flights, which the Chinese military refers to as a “attack drill,” come after naval drills by a Chinese aircraft carrier group in the Western Pacific close to Japan on Friday.

Taiwan, a democratically run island with a population of 24 million, is considered to be part of China’s territory even though it has never been under Chinese authority.

It has long pledged to use force if necessary to “reunify” the island with the Chinese mainland.

This year, there has been a noticeable rise in tensions surrounding Taiwan.

Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the US House, visited the island in August, which incited the Communist Party’s wrath and a flurry of military drills right away.

Since then, Beijing has escalated its military pressure campaign on the island, deploying fighter jets into the island’s air defense identification zone, or ADIZ, a buffer zone of airspace that separates Taiwan from China, across the Taiwan Strait’s median line.

Military excursions across the median line, which had been used as a loose border between the two for decades, were uncommon.

In reaction to “provocations” between Taiwan and the United States, the Chinese military’s Eastern Theater Command claimed it conducted joint combat readiness patrol and “strike drills” outside Taiwan on Sunday. However, it did not provide any other information.

“The troops will take all necessary measures to resolutely defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the Eastern Theater Command said.

A comprehensive new defence package that includes the creation of a defence modernization programme for Taiwan to thwart Chinese aggression was signed into law by US President Joe Biden on Friday.

In a statement issued late Sunday night, the Taiwanese defense ministry reacted by expressing confidence in the ability to defend its sovereignty.

It said that the Chinese Communist Party’s use of force to settle disputes was indicative of its worldview and that this undermined regional peace and stability.

“The cooperation between Taiwan and the United States will help safeguard a free, open and stable Indo-Pacific region.

The military will continue to strengthen military preparedness based on enemy threats and self-defense needs,” it added.

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