China sends nearly 80 fighter jets, bombers, warships towards Taiwan in 48 hours

The Chinese Nation’s Freedom Armed force sent 38 warplanes and 9 naval force vessels around Taiwan on Tuesday and one more 30 planes on Wednesday.

Taiwan’s defense ministry said on Wednesday, prior to its annual military exercises aimed at defending itself against an invasion, that China sent navy ships and a large group of warplanes, including fighter jets and bombers, toward Taiwan over two days.

Between 6 a.m. on Tuesday and 6 a.m. on Wednesday, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army sent 38 warplanes and 9 navy ships around Taiwan. The military flew another 30 planes from Wednesday morning until noon, including J-10 and J-16 fighters.

32 of them crossed the middle of the Taiwan Strait, an unofficial line that had previously been thought to act as a buffer between the island and the mainland. Another 23 planes crossed the midline later on Wednesday.

This month, Taiwan will hold its annual Han Guang exercise, during which its military will conduct combat readiness drills to stop an invasion. It will likewise direct the yearly Wan’an practices pointed toward getting ready regular people for cataclysmic events and rehearsing clearings if there should be an occurrence of an air assault.

China claims Taiwan as its own territory, and in recent years, it has increased the number of military planes that fly toward Taiwan in response to political activity there. It has also begun sending its navy ships and drones to the waters near the island over the past year.

The PLA flew H-6 bombers in a large loop to the south of Taiwan on Tuesday and Wednesday, passing by the island before returning to China’s southern coast.

Its most recent large-scale military exercises were in response to Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan in August. The military exercises disrupted trade lanes in the Taiwan Strait and forced airplanes to reroute their flights, and it fired missiles over the island in a significant escalation.

In April, the PLA held enormous scope battle availability drills in the air and waters around Taiwan in light of the island’s Leader Tsai Ing-wen meeting with the ebb and flow US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.