China has for the second day in a row flown more than 30 military planes towards Taiwan in yet another record show of force.
Taiwan’s defence ministry said 39 aircraft entered Taiwan’s air defence identification zone in two sorties on Saturday, one during the day and one at night. That followed a similar pattern on Friday, when 38 planes flew into the area south of the self-governing island.
The ministry said 20 planes took part in the daytime flights on Saturday and another 19 at night. It identified most of them as J-17 and SU-30 fighter jets.
Taiwan’s premier, Su Tseng-chang, spoke out on Saturday against the first day’s flights.
“China has always conducted brutal and barbarian actions to jeopardise regional peace,” he said.
China has been sending military planes into the area south of Taiwan on a frequent basis for more than a year. The 38 and 39 planes on Friday and Saturday were the most in a single day since Taiwan began releasing reports on the flights, Taiwan’s Central News Agency said.
The show of force on China’s national day on Friday near Taiwan, which Beijing claims as part of its territory, came in the same week it accused Britain of sending a warship into the Taiwan strait with “evil intentions”.
Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report
