The Taiwanese armed forces have detected 58 Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft approaching the island amid ongoing Chinese military exercises in the waters and airspace around the island for the second day, according to a statement by the Taiwanese defense ministry.
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As follows from the statement of the Ministry of Defense of the island, as of 12:00 on April 9, 58 PLA aircraft were approaching the island. We are talking, in particular, about the J-10, J-11, J-16 fighters, the H-6 strategic bomber, the Y-20 military transport aircraft and others.
Thirty-one aircraft crossed the so-called median line of the Taiwan Strait and entered the island’s air defense identification zone.
The agency also announced the approach of nine PLA ships to Taiwan.
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Shi Yi, spokesman for the PLA’s Eastern Combat Command Zone, said on Saturday that the Chinese armed forces are conducting exercises and patrols in the sea and airspace around Taiwan on April 8-10 in accordance with the combat training plan. According to him, the exercises are a warning to separatist forces advocating the independence of the island, as well as a necessary measure to protect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of China.
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Earlier, the PLA Eastern Combat Command Zone reported that on the first day of the exercise, the Chinese armed forces practiced maneuvers to seize sea and air supremacy, combat patrols around the island, as well as to completely encircle and contain the island, destroyers and frigates of the PLA Navy, airborne groups, fighters, bombers, special-purpose aircraft of the PLA Air Force, artillery brigades, missile troops were involved in the exercises.
