TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense (MND) tracked 27 Chinese military aircraft and four naval vessels around the country, including multiple planes that crossed the Taiwan Strait median line from Wednesday to Thursday (Dec. 7-8).

As of 6 a.m. Thursday, the MND said that 27 People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) military aircraft and four People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) vessels had been tracked around Taiwan.

The aircraft included four Chengdu J-10 jet fighters, one CASC Rainbow CH-4 reconnaissance drone, four Shenyang J-16 fighter jets, one Shaanxi Y-8 anti-submarine warfare (ASW) plane, and one Harbin BZK-005 reconnaissance drone. Nine of the fighter jets and CH-4 drone crossed the median line from multiple locations, while the Y-8 ASW aircraft and BZK-005 drone circled in the southwest corner of Taiwan's air defense identification zone to the northeast of the Dongsha Islands.

The MND said that it responded by scrambling combat patrol aircraft, issuing radio warnings, and deploying air defense missile systems.

Flight paths of PLAAF aircraft over median line and in ADIZ. (MND image)