TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Ministry of National Defense (MND) tracked 26 Chinese military aircraft and five naval vessels around Taiwan between 6 a.m. Thursday (May 2) and 6 a.m. Friday (May 3).
Of the 26 People's Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft, 14 crossed the Taiwan Strait median line, according to the MND. Two were detected in the northeast sector of the country's air defense identification zone (ADIZ), while three other fighters entered the southwest ADIZ.
The ministry said it monitored the situation with its intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance systems and scrambled combat patrol aircraft, dispatched naval vessels, and deployed land-based air defense missile systems.
Thus far in May, the ministry has detected Chinese military aircraft 30 times and naval vessels 16 times. Since September 2020, Beijing has increased its use of "gray zone tactics" by operating more military aircraft and naval ships around Taiwan.
According to CSIS, gray zone tactics are “an effort or series of efforts beyond steady-state deterrence and assurance that attempts to achieve one’s security objectives without resorting to direct and sizable use of force."
