The Taiwan Armed Forces on Monday denounced the deployment of 63 aircraft and four ships of the Chinese Army off the coast of the island and accused Beijing of implementing measures aimed at intimidating Taipei.
«At 17.00 (local time) the Armed Forces have detected the presence of aircraft and ships of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army in the air and sea spaces near the island,» the security forces said in a statement.
Thus, they have pointed out that 31 of these planes have crossed the so-called «middle line» of the Taiwan Strait, which has sent for its part a patrol and has issued several radio alerts.
The Taiwanese authorities have also proceeded to deploy air defense systems in the face of increased tension with China and fears of military aggression.
Ties between China and Taiwan were severed in 1949, after Nationalist Kuomintang Party forces suffered a defeat in the civil war against the Communist Party and moved to the island. Relations between Taiwan and mainland China were restored only on a business and informal level in the late 1980s.
The Chinese government considers the island as another province under its sovereignty and advocates its reunification under the principle of ‘one China, two systems’.
