TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Ministry of National Defense (MND) tracked one Chinese military plane and five naval vessels around Taiwan between 6 a.m. on Friday (April 26) and the same time on Saturday (April 27).

The aircraft crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait and Taiwan responded by monitoring the situation and deploying appropriate forces, according to the MND.

So far this month, Taiwan has tracked Chinese military aircraft 218 times and naval vessels 161 times. Since September 2020, China has increased its use of gray zone tactics by incrementally increasing the number of military aircraft and naval ships operating around Taiwan.

Gray zone tactics are defined as “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.”