A Chinese long-range combat drone capable of carrying heavy weapons has been flying around Taiwan, the island's defense ministry said on Friday.
Taiwan lives under the threat of communist China, which considers the island as one of its provinces that it has not yet managed to reunite with the rest of its territory since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949.
Crossing the midline
On Friday, Taiwan's Defense Ministry said it detected 38 Chinese aircraft around the island, including a TB-001 drone - also called the "Double-Tailed
Scorpion
" - between 6 a.m. local time Thursday and 6 a.m. Friday.
The TB-001 is one of the largest People's Liberation Army drones.
It has a flight range of 6000 kilometers.
According to a map published by the ministry, the drone would have crossed the median line, this invisible border between Taiwan and China drawn unilaterally by the United States during the Cold War, which Beijing refuses to recognize.
Quoted by local media, the Taiwanese minister said it was the first time that a Chinese military aircraft circled the island from one end of the median line to the other.
Map showing the 38 Chinese aircraft spotted around the island, released this Friday morning.
Taiwan Ministry of National Defense
In addition, the minister said 19 of the planes had "
crossed the center line of the Taiwan Strait
" or entered the island's Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ), the highest number since the end of major maneuvers organized by the Chinese army around Taiwan in early April.
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This show of force from Beijing took place a few days after a meeting between Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and the third figure of the American government, Kevin McCarthy, speaker of the House of Representatives.