Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te visits soldiers and air force personnel in Hualien, Taiwan May 28, 2024.
| Photo Credit: REUTERS

Taiwan’s Defence Ministry said on June 22 it had detected 41 Chinese military aircraft around the island in a 24-hour window, a day after Beijing said “diehard” advocates of Taiwan’s independence could face the death penalty.

China claims self-ruled democratic Taiwan as part of its territory and has said it would never renounce the use of force to bring it under Beijing’s control.

It has stepped up pressure on Taipei in recent years and held war games around the island following last month’s inauguration of new Taiwanese leader Lai Ching-te.

On June 22, Taipei’s Defence Ministry said it had detected 41 Chinese military aircraft and seven naval vessels operating around Taiwan during the 24-hour period leading up to 6:00 a.m. (2200 GMT).

“32 of the aircraft crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait,” the Ministry said in a statement, referring to a line bisecting the 180-kilometre (110-mile) waterway that separates Taiwan from China.

The Ministry added that it had “monitored the situation and responded accordingly”.

The latest incursion came after China published judicial guidelines Friday that included the death penalty for “particularly serious” cases of “diehard” supporters of Taiwanese independence, state media reported.

On May 25, Taiwan detected 62 Chinese military aircraft around the island in a 24-hour window, the highest single-day total this year, as China staged military drills following the inauguration of Lai, who Beijing regards as a “dangerous separatist”.

Taiwanese armoured vehicles roll down a street in Kinmen on May 24, 2024. China warned on May 24 that Taiwan’s leadership was pushing the self-ruled island into “a perilous situation of war and danger” and that it would go “further” if provoked, as Beijing conducted military drills around the territory.
| Photo Credit: AFP

China ended two days of war games around Taiwan, in which it simulated attacks with bombers and practiced boarding ships, and Taiwan’s defence ministry detailed on Saturday the surge of Chinese warplanes and warships involved.

Chinese State television’s military channel said late on Friday the drills had concluded. A commentary in the official People’s Liberation Army Daily said they had lasted for two days from Thursday to Friday, as previously announced.

China’s Defence Ministry did not answer calls seeking comment on Saturday.

China, which claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, launched the “Joint Sword – 2024A” exercises three days after Lai Ching-te became Taiwan’s President, a man Beijing says is a “separatist”.

Beijing said the exercises were “punishment” for Mr. Lai’s Monday inauguration speech, in which he said the two sides of the Taiwan Strait were “not subordinate to each other”, which China viewed as a declaration the two are separate countries.

Mr. Lai has repeatedly offered talks with China but been rebuffed. He says only Taiwan’s people can decide their future, and rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims. Taiwan’s government has condemned the drills and said it will not be cowed by Chinese pressure.

On Friday 46 Chinese military planes crossed the Taiwan Strait’s median line, which previously served as an unofficial barrier between the two sides, Taiwan’s Defence Ministry said on Saturday. It said it had detected a total of 62 Chinese aircraft and 27 navy ships.

The aircraft, including advanced Su-30 fighters and nuclear-capable H-6 bombers, flew in the strait as well as down into the Bashi Channel, which separates Taiwan from the Philippines, the ministry said.

On Friday it published footage taken by Taiwanese air force planes of a Chinese J-16 fighter and an H-6 but did not say exactly where it was taken.

China has over the past four years regularly staged military activities around Taiwan, including large-scale war games in 2022 and in 2023.

The People’s Liberation Army Daily commentary, published as “the voice of the military”, said Mr. Lai was determined to act as a “pawn” for external forces to curb China’s development.

“If Taiwan independence separatist forces insist on going their own way or even take risks, the PLA will obey orders and take decisive action to resolutely smash all separatist plots,” it said.