TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense (MND) tracked 43 Chinese military aircraft and seven naval vessels around the country between 6 a.m. Tuesday (Oct. 31) and 6 a.m. Wednesday (Nov. 1).
The defense ministry said that 43 People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) military aircraft and seven People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) vessels were detected. Of the aircraft, 37 had crossed the median line or entered the southeast and southwest sectors of Taiwan's air defense identification zone (ADIZ).
The aircraft tracked in the ADIZ included: six Sukhoi Su-30,16 Shenyang J-16, and four Chengdu J-10 fighter jets, four Xi'an H-6 bombers, two Shaanxi KJ-500 early warning and control aircraft (KJ-500 AEW&C), one Shaanxi Y-9 communication countermeasure (Y-9 CC) aircraft, one Shaanxi Y-8 electronic intelligence (Y-8 ELINT) spotter plane, one Guizhou WZ-7 Soaring Dragon reconnaissance unmanned aerial vehicle (WZ-7 UAV RECCE), and two Xi'an Y-20 aerial refueling aircraft.
Some of the J-10 fighter jets crossed over the mid-section of the median line. The rest of the J-10 fighters and the Su-30 combat aircraft entered the southwest ADIZ.
The Y-9 CC aircraft, Y-9 ELINT plane, WZ-7 RECCE drone, Y-20 tanker, J-16 fighter jets, H-6 bombers, and one of the KJ-500 AEW&C drones flew into the southwest and southeast sectors of the ADIZ.
The other KJ-500 AEW&C drone flew in the far southwest corner of the ADIZ just northeast of the Dongsha Islands.
The MND said it monitored the situation with its intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance system and, in response, scrambled combat patrol aircraft, dispatched naval vessels, and deployed land-based air defense missile systems.
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."
