Taipei: Taiwan said on Saturday it scrambled jets in response to the approach of Chinese jets for the second day in a row, escalating tensions further as a senior U.S. official was on the island for talks.
“Twelve J-16 fighters, two J-10 fighters, two J-11 fighters, two H-6 bombers and one Y-8 ASW crossed the midline of the #TaiwanStrait and entered #Taiwan’s southwest ADIZ,” Taiwan’s defence ministry said in a statement, referring to its air defence identification zone.
It said Taiwan’s air force “scrambled fighters, and deployed air defense missile system to monitor the activities.”
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen pledged deeper ties with the United States at a dinner for a visiting senior State Department official, on the same day China sent 18 fighter jets to harry the island to express its anger at the trip.
China had earlier on Friday announced…