Taiwan tracks second Chinese ‘combat’ patrol in a week, sends ships and jets to monitor

In this photo taken May 2022 released on Friday, May 27, 2022 by the Taiwan Ministry of National Defence, a French made Mirage fighter jet takes off from an airbase near Pingtung in Southern Taiwan. (Taiwan Ministry of National Defense via AP)

TAIPEI - Taiwan sent ships and fighter jets to monitor the second Chinese “joint combat readiness patrol” in a week near the island, as Taipei steps up its guard over Beijing’s activities.

China has pressured Taiwan by increasing its military presence around the island, and Taipei is on high alert for further Chinese actions after President Xi Jinping discussed Taiwan with U.S. President Donald Trump in Beijing this month.

China views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, and operates its warships and warplanes around the island on an almost daily basis. Taiwan’s government rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims.

Late on Monday, Taiwan’s defense ministry said it had detected 21 Chinese aircraft, including J-16 fighters and drones, operating all around the island, which, along with warships, were carrying out a “joint combat readiness patrol.”

China’s defense ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Taiwan’s defense ministry published three pictures taken by its own forces - one from an F-16 jet of two Chinese fighters trailing a Y-20 aerial refueling aircraft, one of the Chinese warship the Yinchuan, and one of a Taiwanese navy sailor watching the same ship through binoculars.

China carried out a similar “readiness patrol” last Tuesday, the day before Taiwan President Lai Ching-te marked his second year in office. China detests Lai as a “separatist” and has rebuffed multiple offers from him for talks.

Over the weekend, Taiwan said its coast guard had faced off with a Chinese coast guard ship near the Taiwan-controlled Pratas Islands, which are strategically located at the top end of the South China Sea.

On Saturday, Taiwan’s National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu took to social media to detail the 100 Chinese ships he said were currently in the first island chain, referring to an area running from Japan through Taiwan and into the Philippines.

• READ MORE: China stages military drills around Taiwan to warn ‘external forces’ after U.S., Japan tensions

Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Lincoln Feast, Reuters