Taiwan monitors ‘unprovoked’ Chinese combat patrol near island

Taiwan has said it is monitoring the second Chinese “joint combat readiness patrol” near the island in a week, accusing Beijing of being the sole source of instability in the Asia Pacific.

In a post on X on Tuesday, Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defence said its forces had responded to the situation.

The comments come after United States President Donald Trump met Chinese President Xi Jinping earlier this month in Beijing, where the two leaders discussed Taiwan.

China claims the self-governing island as part of its territory. Taiwan rejects China’s sovereignty claims.

Taiwan’s National Defence Ministry said on Tuesday it had detected 29 Chinese aircraft, including fighter jets, and seven warships operating around the island. The ministry reported that 24 of the aerial sorties had crossed the median line, an unofficial maritime and aerial buffer zone that runs through the middle of the Taiwan Strait.

There was no immediate comment from Beijing, which does not recognise the boundary.

Joseph Wu, secretary-general of Taiwan’s National Security Council, accused China of being the sole source of instability in the Asia Pacific region.

“For the 2nd time in a week, shortly after the Beijing summit, the PLA conducted a ‘joint combat readiness patrol’ around Taiwan. We also spotted the Liaoning carrier group in the West Pacific. This is unprovoked. The PRC is the sole source of instability in the IndoPacific,” he wrote on X.

On ⁠Saturday, Wu said China had deployed more than 100 ships up and down the first island chain, an area that stretches from Japan down to Taiwan and into the Philippines.

Earlier this month, President Xi warned Trump that their two countries could clash over Taiwan if the issue is mishandled. Since then, Trump has cautioned Taipei against formally declaring independence from China, prompting the island to issue a statement saying it was “sovereign and independent” but planned to maintain the status quo.

Trump recently said he would speak directly with Taiwan’s leader, which would be a significant break from US protocol. US and Taiwanese leaders have not spoken directly since 1979, when Washington and Beijing formally established diplomatic relations.

The US is Taiwan’s largest weapons supplier and is bound by law to provide the island with the means to defend itself. In December, Trump approved the largest-ever US weapons package for its ally.

Last week, however, Washington said it was pausing a $14bn arms sale to Taiwan to conserve munitions for the war on Iran.