More than 20 Chinese military aircraft enter Taiwan's ADIZ

At 4:30 p.m. on Thursday afternoon, Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense (MND) reported that 19 People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) aircraft, including 12 Shenyang J-16 fighter jets, two Shaanxi Y-8 anti-submarine warfare (Y-8 ASW) planes, two Xian H-6 bombers, one Shaanxi Y-8 electronic warfare aircraft (Y-8 EW), and two Shenyang J-11 fighter jets, had penetrated into the southwestern corner of the ADIZ, reports Taiwan News.

Then in a second incident, the MND at 7:15 p.m. announced that five additional Chinese military planes had entered the southwest corner of Taiwan's ADIZ. This time, two Shenyang J-16 fighter jets, one Shaanxi KJ-500 airborne early warning and control aircraft (KJ-500 AEW&C), and two Shenyang J-11 fighters were spotted, the newspaper reported.

In both the cases, Taiwan's Air Force responded by scrambling fighter jets, broadcasting radio warnings, and tracking the aircraft with land-based anti-aircraft missiles.

The aggressive action by China comes a day after Taiwan filed a formal application to take part in the CPTPP. Some analysts are speculating that the unusually large number of military aircraft could be an attempt by Beijing to intimidate Taiwan into thinking twice about joining the trade group or to bully members to reject Taiwan's application, reports Taiwan News.