Taipei: Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defence reported a significant uptick in Chinese military activity near the island, with 34 Chinese military aircraft, eight naval vessels, and one government-affiliated ship detected around its air and sea space as of 6 am on Saturday.

Out of the 34 aircraft, 25 crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait and entered the island's northern, central, and southwestern air defence identification zones (ADIZ), the ministry said in a statement.

In a post on X, Taiwan's MND stated, "34 PLA aircraft, 8 PLAN vessels and 1 official ship operating around Taiwan were detected up until 6 a.m. (UTC+8) today. 25 out of 34 sorties crossed the median line and entered Taiwan's northern, central and southwestern ADIZ. We have monitored the situation and responded."

Earlier, Taiwan's Ministry of National Defence (MND) on Friday reported 16 sorties of Chinese aircraft, eight Chinese naval vessels and one official ship operating near its territorial waters.

In a post on X, Taiwan's MND stated, "16 sorties of PLA aircraft, 8 PLAN vessels and 1 official ship operating around Taiwan were detected up until 6 a.m. (UTC+8) today. 7 out of 16 sorties crossed the median line and entered Taiwan's northern and eastern ADIZ. We have monitored the situation and responded."

Meanwhile, Taiwan's Coast Guard Administration (CGA) announced on Wednesday that it "ejected" four vessels of the Chinese coast guard that had entered Taiwan-controlled waters near Kinmen County, as reported by the Central News Agency (CNA).

The China Coast Guard ships 14603, 14608, 14609, and 14513 approached "restricted waters" off the Kinmen Islands from the southeast of Liaoluo Bay and the southwest of Damao Mountain at 8:50 am, according to a statement from the CGA's Kinmen-Matsu-Penghu Branch.

The incident on Wednesday followed a similar occurrence on Tuesday, when the same four Chinese vessels entered Taiwan-controlled waters and stayed for over two hours before departing, as stated by the branch, which also sent vessels to monitor the Chinese ships that day, the Central News Agency (CNA) added in its report. (ANI)