Taiwan reports renewed China military activity

Taiwan reported renewed Chinese military activity around the island yesterday, with nine aircraft crossing the sensitive median line of the Taiwan Strait and warships carrying out "combat readiness patrols".

Democratically-governed Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory, has complained for the past four years of regular Chinese military patrols and drills near the island, as Beijing seeks to pressure Taipei over its sovereignty claims.

With Chinese President Xi Jinping in San Francisco last week for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, where he met US President Joe Biden, the scale of that military activity around Taiwan had scaled off.

But Taiwan's defence ministry reported that starting yesterday morning it had detected nine Chinese aircraft crossing the Taiwan Strait's median line, which had previously served as an unofficial barrier between the two and which Chinese planes now regularly fly over.

The aircraft involved included Su-30 and J-10 fighters, as well as early warning and electronic warfare aircraft, the ministry said.