China sends military aircraft towards Taiwan

On Tuesday morning, the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) dispatched more than 20 fighter jets towards Taiwan to conduct drills near the island, alongside vessels of the Chinese Navy.

Taiwan's defence ministry reported this on the social media platform X.

According to information published at 12:40, 22 PLA fighter jets of various types were detected from 08:20, including the latest J-16 multirole fighters and third-generation KJ-500 airborne early warning and control aircraft. 

Nineteen of these aircraft crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait, which is considered the unofficial boundary between the mainland and the island, and entered various air defence zones of Taiwan — northern, central, south-western and eastern — covering the entire coastline of the island facing mainland China.