Taiwan

Taiwan's defence ministry said Thursday (July 11) it had detected 66 Chinese military aircraft around the island in a 24-hour window, a record-high this year, a day after Beijing reportedly conducted military exercises in nearby waters.

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China claims self-ruled democratic Taiwan as part of its territory and has said it will never renounce the use of force to bring it under Beijing's control.

Thursday's record comes a day after Taipei spotted Chinese aircraft around the island that it said were headed to the western Pacific for exercises with the PLA aircraft carrier Shandong.

Also read: Xi's China sends 45 aircraft around Taiwan 

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"66 PLA aircraft and seven PLAN vessels operating around Taiwan were detected up until 6 am (2200 GMT Wednesday) today," the defence ministry said in Thursday's statement.

Fifty-six of the aircraft crossed the sensitive median line bisecting the Taiwan Strait -- a narrow 180-kilometre (110-mile) waterway separating the island from China.

The ministry added it had "monitored the situation and responded accordingly".

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The year's previous record was in May, when Beijing sent 62 military aircraft and 27 naval vessels around Taiwan.

That occurred in the middle of war games Beijing launched on the heels of the inauguration of Taiwan President Lai Ching-te, who Beijing regards as a "dangerous separatist".

Taiwan defence minister Wellington Koo on Wednesday said the Shandong "did not pass through the Bashi Channel", the area off Taiwan's southern tip where Chinese ships typically transit en route to the Pacific Ocean.

Instead, it "went further south through the Balingtang Channel towards the Western Pacific," he said, referring to a waterway just north of the Philippines' Babuyan Island -- about 250 kilometres south of Bashi.

Neighbouring Japan on Tuesday confirmed that four PLA navy vessels -- including the Shandong -- were sailing 520 kilometres southeast of Miyako island.

Also read: Taiwan detects Chinese planes as China plans Taiwan invasion

"Fighter aircraft and helicopters" had been seen taking off from and landing on the Shandong,"it said.

The Philippines' military public affairs chief said they had received reports of a China-Russia exercise taking place in the Philippine Sea though he did not comment about the Shandong directly.

Tensions between Manila and Beijing have ramped up following a series of escalating confrontations over the hotly disputed South China Sea.

(Disclaimer: This story has been published from a news agency feed with minimal edits to adhere to WION's style guide. The headline may have been changed to better reflect the content of the story or to make it more suitable for WION audience.)