Thirty-five Chinese planes and seven ships circle Taiwan in twenty-four hours

Thirty-five Chinese planes were detected around Taiwan in twenty-four hours, the island’s defense ministry said. Seven vessels were also spotted in this twenty-four hour period, until 6 a.m. Thursday June 27 (10 p.m. GMT Wednesday), according to the ministry. Multiple intrusions have been reported since the inauguration in Taipei of new President Lai Ching-te.

China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has said it will never renounce the use of force to take control of the democratic island. It has stepped up pressure on Taipei in recent years and held military exercises around the island in May, after the inauguration of Lai Ching-te, whom Beijing considers a “dangerous separatist”.

During the military maneuvers around Taiwan, Beijing mobilized military ships and aircraft loaded with live ammunition, claiming that it was a “severe punishment” against the “separatists”.

Up to sixty-two military planes in one day around Taiwan

According to the Taiwanese Ministry of Defense, the Chinese military had sent up to sixty-two military aircraft in one day around Taiwan. After these maneuvers, Beijing promised that military pressure on the island would continue “as long as provocations linked to Taiwan’s independence continue”.

President Lai said Monday that China has not “no right to punish” Taiwanese, after Beijing included the death penalty in new criminal sanctions targeting suspected Taiwanese secessionists last week.

Ties between the two sides will deteriorate if China “does not accept the existence of the Republic of China and does not engage in trade […] with [son] democratically elected and legitimate government”added Mr. Lai, referring to Taiwan by the name the island officially gives itself.