Taipei [Taiwan], April 05: The Taiwan Ministry of National Defence (MND) tracked eight Chinese naval vessels around Taiwan between 6 am on Thursday (April 4) and 6 am on Friday (April 5), Taiwan News reported.
The Taiwan MND shared a post on X, stating, “8 PLAN vessels operating around Taiwan were detected up until 6 a.m. (UTC+8) today.”
They further said that the Taiwanese armed forces have monitored the situation and employed appropriate forces.
“#ROCArmedForces have monitored the situation and employed appropriate forces to respond,” the post added.
According to Taiwan News, the country has sent naval ships in response and deployed coastal missile systems to monitor the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) activity.
On April 4, the Ministry of National Defence (MND) tracked seven Chinese naval vessels and three military aircraft around Taiwan between 6 am on Wednesday and 6 am on Thursday.
According to MND, of the three People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft, none crossed the Taiwan Strait median line or entered the southwest corner of the country’s air defence identification zone (ADIZ).
Reportedly, so far this month, Taiwan has tracked Chinese military aircraft 39 times and naval vessels 28 times, according to Taiwan News.
Since September 2020, China has increased its use of gray zone tactics by incrementally increasing the number of military aircraft and naval ships operating around Taiwan.
The Gray zone tactics are defined as “an effort or series of efforts beyond steady-state deterrence and assurance that attempts to achieve one’s security objectives without resort to direct and sizable use of force.”