TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A Chinese military aircraft entered Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) on Wednesday morning (Nov. 5), marking the 34th time People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) planes have intruded into the ADIZ since Sept. 16.

A PLAAF Y-9 Shaanxi electronic warfare plane entered the southwestern corner of the ADIZ, according to Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense (MND). Taiwan scrambled jet fighters, broadcast radio warnings, and deployed air defense missile systems to track it.

China’s latest string of incursions into Taiwan’s ADIZ started on Sept. 16 when two Shaanxi Y-8s penetrated the southwest section of the identification zone. Two days later, Beijing sent 18 military planes — including H-6 bombers and J-10, J-11, and J-16 fighter jets divided into five groups — to carry out flights in the Taiwan Strait to the northwest of the nation and in the southwest portion of its ADIZ, with some crossing the median line in the strait.

On Sept. 19, an additional 19 planes, including Chinese bombers, fighter jets, and patrol planes, flew six different paths between an area northwest of Taiwan and the southwest region of the ADIZ, with some again straying over the median line. Between one and three Chinese warplanes also entered the ADIZ on Sept. 21, 22, 23, 24, and 29; Oct. 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 15, 16, 17, 21, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, and 31; Nov. 1 and 4.

On Oct. 22, a Chinese drone flew into the southwest corner of the identification zone, according to MND Deputy Chief of Staff Chiu Shu-hua (丘樹華). On Nov. 2, eight PLAAF warcraft, including two Y-8s, two SU-30s, two J-10s, and two J-16s, carried out a total of five sorties into the southwest section of the ADIZ, marking the third-largest incursion since Sept. 16.

Chinese Y-9's flight path on Nov. 4 (MND image)