• China conducted its first significant military drills around Taiwan this year.
• China sent 57 warplanes over the Taiwan Strait, Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said.
• PLA aircraft included J-10, J-11 and Su-30 fighters, H-6 bombers, and drones.

China conducted its first significant military drills around the island this year, sending 28 warplanes over the Taiwan Strait, according to Taiwan’s Defense Ministry.

The 57 aircraft that were sighted near Taiwan included the 28 People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft, according to the ministry.

They also included J-10, J-11, J-16, and Su-30 fighters, H-6 bombers, three drones, and an early warning and reconnaissance aircraft.

According to the ministry, Taiwan assigned aircraft, navy ships, and land-based missile systems to counter Chinese activities.

A chart given by the ministry shows PLA aircraft flying across Taiwan’s Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) south of the island, passing the median line seven times from north to south, before heading slightly north-east to the east of the line.

According to a statement from the Eastern Theater Command of the PLA, its troops practiced combat maneuvers on Sunday all surrounding Taiwan.

“The exercise focused on land strikes, sea assaults and other subjects, aiming to test the troops’ joint combat capability and resolutely counter the collusive and provocative acts of the external forces and the ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist forces,” according to a statement posted on the state-run China Military Online.

Taiwan, a democratically run island with a population of 24 million, is considered to be part of China’s territory even though it has never been under Chinese authority.

It has long pledged to use force if necessary to “reunify” the island with the Chinese mainland.

The battle drill comes after a related one on December 25, when the PLA, according to Taiwan’s Defense Ministry, launched 47 aircraft across the Taiwan Strait’s median line out of a total of 71 that were detected surrounding the island.

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