Taipei: Taiwan said on Saturday it scrambled jets in response to the approach of Chinese jets for the second day in a row, escalating tensions further as a senior U.S. official was on the island for talks.
“Twelve J-16 fighters, two J-10 fighters, two J-11 fighters, two H-6 bombers and one Y-8 ASW crossed the midline of the #TaiwanStrait and entered #Taiwan’s southwest ADIZ,” Taiwan’s defence ministry said in a statement, referring to its air defence identification zone.
It said Taiwan’s air force “scrambled fighters, and deployed air defense missile system to monitor the activities.”
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen pledged deeper ties with the United States at a dinner for a visiting senior State Department official, on the same day China sent 18 fighter jets to harry the island to express its anger at the trip.
