TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Ministry of National Defense (MND) said early Wednesday morning (July 12) that it had detected an additional 30 Chinese military aircraft and four Chinese naval vessels around Taiwan since its report earlier the same day.

At 9 a.m., the MND said that 38 People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) military aircraft and four People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) vessels had been tracked around Taiwan between 6 a.m. on Tuesday (July 11) and 6 a.m. on Wednesday. One of the aircraft, a BZK-005 reconnaissance drone, crossed the median line, while six Sukhoi Su-30 combat jets either crossed the median line or entered the southwest corner of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ).

At 12:10 p.m., the MND posted an update saying that since 7 a.m., 30 additional PLAAF planes and four more PLAN ships had been detected around Taiwan. The aircraft types include Chengdu J-10 fighter jets, Shenyang J-16 fighters, Xian H-6 bombers, Shaanxi Y-8 electronic warfare aircraft, carrier-based aircraft, and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV).

Of these aircraft, 23 crossed the Taiwan Strait median line or entered the southwest or southeast ADIZ. The aircraft conducted long-range aerial reconnaissance training in coordination with Chinese long-range naval vessels in Taiwan's southeast ADIZ.

In addition, the MND said that four PLAN naval ships were deployed to carry out joint combat readiness patrols with Chinese military aircraft. The MND said it is closely monitoring the situation with its intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) system and, in response, scrambled combat patrol aircraft, dispatched naval vessels, and deployed land-based air defense missile systems.

China has dispatched 191 military aircraft and 64 naval ships around Taiwan so far in July.

Since September 2020, Beijing has increasingly employed the use of "gray zone tactics" in the form of deployments of military aircraft and naval vessels over the median line and inside Taiwan's ADIZ. According to CSIS, 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 resorting to direct and sizable use of force."