China sent military aircraft into the Taiwan Strait on Friday, a move that Taiwan is calling "provocative", as U.S. senator Rick Scott visited the island in order to meet with Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen, which China has openly criticized.
China claims that the island of Taiwan is part of mainland China, and Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said that there is "no such thing as international waters" in the Taiwan Strait and said that China has sovereignty, sovereign rights, and jurisdiction over the entire Taiwan Strait, and claims that vessels passing through the strait are violating China's own territorial sovereignty.
Taiwan's Defense Ministry said that the Chinese military aircraft "intentionally crossed the median line of the strait in a provocative move, which has seriously damaged regional peace and stability".
Their Defense Ministry also said that their own aircraft "forcefully expelled" the Chinese aircraft and that they deployed ground-to-air missiles in order to "monitor" the situation.
The incident took place after China carried out a number of military exercises, patrols, and drills in both the sea and air around the island of Taiwan. Chinese defense spokesperson Wu Qian had said that they were in response to "collusion and provocations" by both the United States and Taiwan.
Tsai put out a Tweet saying, "Unprecedented threats from authoritarian actors will not deter us in Taiwan from working with our partners around the world to uphold liberal values [and] strengthen democratic institutions".
While China regularly flies aircraft into Taiwan's Air Defense Identification Zone, or ADIZ, crossing over into the median line, also called the Davis Line does not happen as often.
The Chinese military aircraft also entered the Davis Line from the northwest, flying across the Davis Line and then circled the location until the Taiwanese aircraft "repelled" the aircraft.
China claims that the island of Taiwan is part of mainland China, and Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said that there is "no such thing as international waters" in the Taiwan Strait and said that China has sovereignty, sovereign rights, and jurisdiction over the entire Taiwan Strait, and claims that vessels passing through the strait are violating China's own territorial sovereignty.
Taiwan's Defense Ministry said that the Chinese military aircraft "intentionally crossed the median line of the strait in a provocative move, which has seriously damaged regional peace and stability".
Their Defense Ministry also said that their own aircraft "forcefully expelled" the Chinese aircraft and that they deployed ground-to-air missiles in order to "monitor" the situation.
The incident took place after China carried out a number of military exercises, patrols, and drills in both the sea and air around the island of Taiwan. Chinese defense spokesperson Wu Qian had said that they were in response to "collusion and provocations" by both the United States and Taiwan.
Tsai put out a Tweet saying, "Unprecedented threats from authoritarian actors will not deter us in Taiwan from working with our partners around the world to uphold liberal values [and] strengthen democratic institutions".
While China regularly flies aircraft into Taiwan's Air Defense Identification Zone, or ADIZ, crossing over into the median line, also called the Davis Line does not happen as often.
The Chinese military aircraft also entered the Davis Line from the northwest, flying across the Davis Line and then circled the location until the Taiwanese aircraft "repelled" the aircraft.