TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Amid a visit from a top Pentagon official, Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense (MND) tracked 24 Chinese military aircraft and four naval vessels around the country, including 15 aircraft in the air defense identification zone (ADIZ).

The MND said it tracked 24 People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) military aircraft and four People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) vessels around Taiwan between 6 a.m. on Friday (Feb. 17) and 6 a.m. on Saturday (Feb. 18). Of the aircraft, 15 crossed the median line or intruded on the southwest corner of Taiwan's ADIZ during this time.

The aircraft tracked in the ADIZ included: one CASC Rainbow CH-4 reconnaissance drone, four Chengdu J-10 jet fighters, four Shenyang J-11 fighter jets, four Shenyang J-16 fighters, one Harbin BZK-005 reconnaissance drone, and one Shaanxi Y-8 anti-submarine warfare (ASW) plane.

All these aircraft crossed the median line, with the exception of the BZK-005, Y-8 ASW, and some of the J-16 fighters. The latter circled to the northeast of Taiwan's Dongsha Islands.

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

On Friday, the Financial Times reported that Michael Chase, the U.S. Department of Defense's deputy assistant secretary of defense for China, was slated to arrive in Taiwan "in the coming days." However, at 3:59 p.m. that afternoon, the author of the article Demetri Sevastopulo wrote on Twitter that the story has been updated to clarify that following a trip to Ulan Bator in Mongolia, "Chase is now in Taiwan."

Flight paths of PLA aircraft. (MND image)