China flies 38 warplanes near Taiwan,6 naval vessels in area

[Midnight]

China flies 38 warplanes near Taiwan, 6 naval vessels in area

By Associated Press

April 28, 2023 5:57am Updated

China’s military flew 38 fighter jets and other warplanes near Taiwan, the Taiwanese defense ministry said Friday, in the biggest such flight display since the large military exercise in which it simulated sealing off the island earlier in April.



Naval vessels were also seen in the area as part of China’s long-running campaign of intimidation against Taiwan.



Later Friday, China’s People’s Liberation Army issued a protest over the flight of a United States Navy P-8A Poseidon anti-submarine patrol aircraft through the Taiwan Strait, which separates mainland China from the self-governing island democracy claimed by Beijing.



Calling Thursday’s flight a provocation that the US “openly hyped up,” the PLA’s Eastern Theater Command said it scrambled fighter jets to monitor the plane’s flight.



Such acts “fully prove that the US is a disruptor of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and a creator of security risks,” the statement said. “Theater troops maintain a high level of alert at all times and resolutely defend national sovereignty and security as well as regional peace and stability.”



The US 7th Fleet said Thursday’s flight was in accordance with international law and “demonstrates the United States’ commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific.”



“The United States will continue to fly, sail, and operate anywhere international law allows including within the Taiwan Strait,” the statement said.



The US remains Taiwan’s closest military and political ally, despite the lack of formal diplomatic ties between them. US law requires Washington to treat all threats to the island as matters of “grave concern,” though it remains ambiguous over whether American forces would be dispatched to help defend the island.

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