China sends 37 military aircraft, 7 naval vessels around Taiwan

37 Chinese military aircraft and seven naval vessels were tracked by Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defence (MND) between Friday and Saturday, according to Taiwan News. The Chinese military aircraft and naval vessels were tracked from 6 am on Friday, July 21 to 6 a.m. on Saturday, July 22. “37 People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) military aircraft and seven People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) vessels had been tracked around Taiwan,” the MND said on Saturday. Of the detected aircraft, 22 crossed the median line or entered the southwest, south, southeast, and east sections of Taiwan’s air defence identification zone (ADIZ), Taiwan News reported. The aircraft tracked in the ADIZ included eight Chengdu J-10 fighter jets, six Shenyang J-16 fighters, two Xian H-6 bombers, one Shaanxi Y-8 anti-submarine warfare aircraft (Y-8 ASW), one Shaanxi Y-9 electronic warfare plane (Y-9 EW), one Guizhou WZ-7 Soaring Dragon reconnaissance unmanned aerial vehicle (WZ-7 UAV RECCE), one TB-001 reconnaissance and strike unmanned combat aerial vehicle (TB-001 UCAV RECCE), one Shaanxi KJ-500 early warning and control aircraft (KJ-500 AEW&C), and one Harbin Z-9 (Z-9 ASW) anti-submarine warfare helicopter. The J-10 combat jets crossed the median line’s northern, central, and southern sections. The TB-001 UCAV and the Y-8 ASW crossed over the southern area of the median line and entered the southwest sector of the ADIZ, while the Z-9 ASW was also detected in the southwest ADIZ briefly taking a parallel path with the Y-8 ASW, Taiwan News reported.