China sends dozens of military aircraft, ships near Taiwan

China sent 43 warplanes and seven ships near Taiwan on Wednesday in yet another large drill maneuver directed against the small island nation that Beijing claims rights over.

Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense said 37 of the aircraft crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait and entered the country’s airspace in the early morning hours.

Taiwanese officials said its armed forces “monitored the situation” and deployed aircraft, navy vessels and ground missile systems in response to the perceived aggression.

The military drill is the latest against Taiwan, which has been self-governed since 1949 after its people fled Chinese communist rule. Taiwanese officials frequently post updates on Chinese drills, though many of them involve just a handful of aircraft or ships, not dozens of them.

China has publicly said the drills are meant for its forces to practice military strategies and to warn foreign nations against intervening.

The news comes two days after Gen. Zhang Youxia, the second-ranking military official in China, warned at a conference in Beijing that “China and the Chinese military will never allow” Taiwan to split from the mainland.

Beijing sees the island off the South China Sea as historically part of the mainland and has begun exercising more threats against Taiwan in recent years, including aggressive rhetoric and frequent drills.

China committed one of its largest drills ever in August 2022, after then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) traveled to Taiwan with a congressional delegation.

The U.S., which does not recognize Taiwan as an independent country but commits to supporting it, has warned of China seeking to unify with Taiwan, potentially by force.

Washington is preparing for a potential war with China in the next few years over the island nation’s sovereignty and is rapidly seeking to modernize its forces, as Beijing does the same.

The Associated Press contributed.