Taiwan scrambles fighter jets after 10 Chinese warplanes fly across the sensitive median line

• Taiwan deployed fighter jets after 10 Chinese planes crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait. 
• Earlier this week, 37 Chinese military planes also flew into Taiwan’s air-defense system.
• It follows video footage of a Chinese warship cutting off an American destroyer.

Taiwan’s defense ministry said it deployed military fighter jets, naval vessels, and missile systems after it detected 24 Chinese warplanes, 10 of which it said crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait.

The Chinese aircraft detected included J-10, J-11, J-16, and Su-30 fighters, and also H-6 bombers, according to a tweet by the defense ministry.

In the tweet, the defense ministry said that four People’s Liberation Army Navy vessels “conducted joint combat patrol” while ten aircraft crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait, which separates mainland China and Taiwan— something which China says it does not recognize, per Reuters.

This is not the first instance of Chinese military activity around Taiwan this week. Reuters reported that 37 Chinese military planes flew into Taiwan’s air-defense system before some headed to the western Pacific.

The US Navy’s 7th Fleet also released a video late last Sunday night showing a Chinese warship cutting off an American destroyer during an “unsafe” encounter in the Taiwan Strait.

In the video, the Chinese Type 052D destroyer Suzhou, as US Indo-Pacific Command described it, “executed maneuvers in an unsafe manner” around the USS Chung-Hoon.

According to Reuters, China has previously defended these kind of actions, saying they were to safeguard the country’s sovereignty.

China has frequently responded to US-Taiwan relations with military exercises and shows of force. 

China views Taiwan as part of its own territory, claiming that it is a breakaway province. Chinese President Xi Jinping has frequently called for unification with Taiwan.

“We are willing to create a vast space for peaceful unification, but we will never leave any room for any sort of Taiwan independence separatist activities,” he has said.