TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A U.S. submarine hunting aircraft flew over the Taiwan Strait on Thursday (Oct. 12), while Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense (MND) tracked 14 Chinese military aircraft and five naval vessels around the country between 6 a.m. Thursday (Oct. 12) and 6 a.m. Friday (Oct. 13).

The U.S. Navy's Seventh Fleet on Thursday said a U.S. Navy P-8A Poseidon anti-submarine warfare (ASW) jet had "transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace" that day by "operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law." The press release said the U.S. "upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations."

The Seventh Fleet said the aircraft's flight "demonstrates the United States' commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific." The statement added the U.S. military "flies, sails, and operates anywhere international law allows."

The MND at 3:40 p.m. on Thursday announced that a U.S. P-8A ASW aircraft flew from south to north along the median line of the Taiwan Strait that morning. It stated that during this period, the military monitored the surrounding sea and air space dynamics, and the situation remained normal.

On Friday, the MND said 14 People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) military aircraft and five People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) vessels had been tracked around Taiwan. One of the detected aircraft entered the southwest sector of Taiwan's Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ).

The aircraft tracked in the ADIZ was a Shaanxi Y-8 anti-submarine warfare aircraft. It flew off the southwestern edge of the median line and entered Taiwan's southwest ADIZ, before returning to the Taiwan Strait.

The MND said it monitored the situation with its intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance system and, in response, scrambled combat patrol aircraft, dispatched naval vessels, and deployed land-based air defense missile systems.