China sends 59 warplanes and 9 vessels near Taiwan

Taipei, March 18 (CNA) China sent 59 warplanes and nine vessels in Taiwan's vicinity on Monday after a few days of relative calm, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said Tuesday.

Of those aircraft, more than two dozen crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait and the others entered Taiwan's air defense identification zone (ADIZ), a flight map released by the MND showed.

Two balloons were also detected navigating over waters just north of Taiwan during the period between 6 a.m. Monday and 6 a.m. Tuesday.

The ministry said it scrambled combat air and sea patrols and deployed defense missile systems to track the Chinese military aircraft.

On Tuesday, the MND also unveiled video footage of Taiwanese naval vessels monitoring the Chinese military ships operating in waters around Taiwan, including the Keelung (Kidd)-class destroyer watching China's Type 052D destroyer Guilin.

It also showed surveillance photos of Chinese attack drones and various unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that were taken by a Taiwan Air Force F-16V fighter jet and Navy P-3C anti-submarine aircraft.

The relatively large-scale Chinese military mission was detected as Taiwan was beginning a five-day "immediate response" military drill consisting of various aircraft and naval vessels aimed at quickly countering sudden Chinese military actions.

In the previous four days, China did not conduct any mission in Taiwan's vicinity with more than seven aircraft, according to MND maps.

An ADIZ is a self-declared area in which a country claims the right to identify, locate and control approaching aircraft, but it is not part of that country's territorial airspace as defined by international law.