Amid particularly increased Chinese military activity in its vicinity, Taiwan has said that it has spotted 15 Chinese aircraft and seven naval vessels near the island between Friday 6 am (September 27) and Saturday 6 am (September 26). The Taiwan's Ministry of Defence said that 10 of the 15 aircraft crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait and entered Taiwan's Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ) in the Southwest and Southeast.
Taiwan News has reported that the self-governing island nation dispatched its own aircraft, ships following the Chinese activity. It also deployed missile systems.
China claims Taiwan is its own territory and has not ruled out use of force to capture it. Taiwan is a democracy. One of the major deterrent for China is US support to Taiwan. However, China keeps the pressure on by violating the median line between its coast and that of Taiwan.
However, Chinese activities have increased. In the month of September alone, Taiwan spotted 422 Chinese military aircraft and 213 navy vessels. China has till date, avoided direct conflict.
This sort of a strategy is often called grey zone tactic whereby a nation seeks to achieve its goals by maintaining pressure on the other side but not actively engaging in open conflict.
Beijing has been conducting air and naval operations near Taiwan's territorial waters and inside its ADIZ. Taiwan and its allies have been condemning Chinese actions but they haven't been able to fully deter China.
China has territorial or maritime disputes with nearly all of its neighbours and other countries in the region. China claims the entirety of South China Sea and vehemently opposes any major military and naval movement in the South China Sea.