According to the AFP, Taiwanese defense officials say they have detected 68 People’s Liberation Army aircraft and 10 People’s Liberation Army Naval vessels between Wednesday and Thursday morning. It is currently early Thursday morning in Taiwan.
#UPDATE “68 PLA aircraft and 10 PLAN vessels around Taiwan were detected” between Wednesday and Thursday morning, Taiwan’s defence ministry said in a statement, referring to China’s army and navy.
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) September 14, 2023
The aircraft and ships were detected in and around Taiwan’s national airspace.
Taiwan’s defence ministry said on Thursday that in the past 24 hours it had detected 40 Chinese air force aircraft entering the island’s air defence zone, mostly flying to the south of Taiwan and into the Bashi Channel.
This is a breaking news story; updates will be made when more information becomes available.
Meanwhile, the Biden administration announced before this latest news broke that they are redirecting aid toward Taiwan:
The U.S. plans to redirect some of its foreign military financing allocated for Egypt to Taiwan over what it says is Egypt’s failure to make progress on human rights and other issues, according to U.S. officials.The Biden administration has notified Congress that it would withhold $85 million in aid conditioned on the release of political prisoners, officials said, and some lawmakers are pushing to withhold another $235 million in conditional assistance that goes to Egypt, amid growing calls by Democrats to penalize Cairo for its human-rights record.
