The People's Liberation Army (PLA) stated on Monday that China's armed forces conducted another round of drills near Taiwan last week to boost collaborative combat operations after the Chinese-controlled island reported an increase in activity.
Taiwan has been complaining about Chinese military intervention nearby it for the previous two years, mainly in the southern and southwestern parts of the island's air defense identification zone, or ADIZ.
On Friday, Taiwan's air force dispatched jets to alert 18 Chinese aircraft that had breached its air defense zone, and further violations were recorded on Saturday and Sunday, though with fewer aircraft.
The Eastern Theater Command of the PLA announced in a statement that air and naval forces conducted maneuvers in the east and southwest of Taiwan from Friday to Sunday to "further evaluate and develop the joint fighting capacity of various operations and arms." It didn't go into detail.
China dispatched bombers, warplanes, and anti-submarine aircraft, according to Taiwan's Defense Ministry.
There were no guns fired, and the Chinese aircraft were flying in Taiwan's ADIZ, a larger area that Taiwan oversees and monitors to give it more opportunity to respond to any threats.
The Chinese PLA Navy's Liaoning aircraft carrier group, which began a routine, realistic combat training mission in the West Pacific about a week ago, has reportedly been conducting diligently in the Philippine Sea to the east of the island of Taiwan and south of Japan over the past few days.
The said region, according to experts, is critical to preventing prospective foreign intervention in the event of a reunification-by-force operation in the Taiwan Strait.
Eight Chinese military vessels, including an aircraft carrier, traveled between islands in Japan's southern Okinawa chain, northeast of Taiwan, last week, according to Japan.
With the carrier group to Taiwan's east, the PLA reportedly deployed a growing diverse set of fighter planes and additional warships from the Chinese mainland west of the island of Taiwan, efficiently surrounding and enclosing the island under the watchful eye of U.S. and Japanese aircraft carriers, analysts said.
Last week, Taiwan conducted pre-announced missile and other exercises off its southern and southeastern coasts.
The Taiwan Strait still is at a high-risk military tension because China has never discarded the use of force to annex democratically-ruled Taiwan.
China's sovereignty claims are rejected by Taiwan's government, which says that only the island's 23 million people can decide its fate.
