(ANSA) - TAIPEI, DECEMBER 26 - China has deployed 71 fighter jets, including 60 fighters, in military maneuvers conducted this weekend around Taiwan.
This was announced today by the Ministry of Defense of Taipei.
Beijing yesterday said it conducted military exercises near Taiwan in response to "provocations" and "collusion" between the United States and the island's authorities.
In a message posted on Twitter, Taipei said 60 fighter jets took part in the exercises, including six SU-30s, among China's most advanced aircraft.
In its daily update, the Taiwanese Ministry of Defense also indicates that 47 of these aircraft entered the air defense zone of the Democratic Autonomous Island:
China considers Taiwan, with a population of 24 million, as one of its provinces which it has yet to successfully reunify with the rest of its territory since the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949. It views with dissatisfaction the rapprochement taking place between the Taiwanese authorities and the USA, which has been providing the island with military support against Beijing for several decades.
China has not specified the number of devices mobilized for yesterday's exercises, nor the exact location of these maneuvers.
Taiwanese Ministry of Defense data indicates that most of the incursions occurred in the southwestern tip of the Air Defense Identification Zone (Adiz).
Some have even crossed the "median line" that runs along the Taiwan Strait.
(HANDLE).
