TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense (MND) tracked 38 Chinese military aircraft and six naval vessels around the country between 6 a.m. on Thursday (April 27) and 6 a.m. on Friday (April 28), with one military aircraft encircling Taiwan for the first time.

At 9 a.m. on Friday, the MND said that 38 People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) military aircraft and six People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) vessels had been tracked around Taiwan. Of the detected aircraft, 19 crossed the median line or entered the southwest, southeast, and northeast sections of Taiwan's air defense identification zone (ADIZ).

The aircraft tracked in the ADIZ included five Suhkoi Su-30 fighter jets, eight Chengdu J-10 fighter jets, two Shenyang J-16 fighter jets, one TB-001 reconnaissance (RECCE) and strike UAV, one Harbin BZK-005 RECCE drone, one Shaanxi Y-8 anti-submarine warfare plane, and one Shaanxi Y-8 RECCE plane.

The fighter jets crossed the median line or the southwestern edge of the line. The two Y-8 aircraft flew in the southwest section of the ADIZ.

The BZK-005 UAV crossed the southwestern tip of the median line into the southwest corner of the ADIZ and entered the southeast and eastern sections of the zone, before tracing the same route on the way back to China. The TB-001 RECCE drone, dubbed the "Twin-Tailed Scorpion," entered the southwest corner of the ADIZ from the southwest edge of the median line.

It then flew to the southeast, east, north, and northwest sections of the ADIZ before exiting over the northeast end of the median line. This marks the first time that the MND has publicly acknowledged that a TB-001 RECCE UAV had encircled Taiwan in this way.

The MND said it monitored the situation and responded by scrambling combat patrol aircraft, dispatching naval vessels, and deploying land-based air defense missile systems. This marks the first time since the MND began reporting ADIZ incursions by PLAAF planes that a Chinese military aircraft has fully encircled Taiwan inside its ADIZ from one end of the median line to the other, reported ETtoday.

According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, gray zone tactics are “an effort or series of efforts beyond steady-state deterrence and assurance that attempts to achieve one’s security objectives without resort to direct and sizable use of force.”