Taiwan reports renewed Chinese military activity, planes in 'response' zone

Taiwan’s defence ministry reported renewed Chinese military activity around the island on Friday, including 13 aircraft entering Taiwan’s “response” zone and five ships carrying out combat readiness patrols. China, which views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, has complained for the past three years of increased military pressure from Beijing. On Saturday, China held a day of drills around Taiwan in an angry response to brief stop-overs this month in the United States by Vice President William Lai. The ministry said that starting about 7 am (2300 GMT), it had detected 22 Chinese aircraft - fighters, bombers, early warning aircraft and drones - of which 13 entered Taiwan’s “response” zone, though it did not give details. Taiwan sent aircraft and ships to monitor them, it said. China has not announced further drills around Taiwan since Saturday, though it frequently mounts such missions without acknowledging them beforehand or afterwards.