Taiwan sends up fighters as Chinese warplanes cross strait’s median line

Taiwan’s air force scrambled into action on Sunday after spotting 10 Chinese warplanes crossing the sensitive median line of the Taiwan Strait, as the island’s defence ministry said four Chinese warships also carried out combat patrols.
This is the second time in less than a week that Taiwan has reported renewed Chinese military activity, after 37 Chinese military aircraft on Thursday flew into the island’s air defence zone, some of which then flew into the western Pacific.
China has over the past three years regularly flown its air force into the skies near the island, though not into Taiwan’s territorial air space.
In a short statement, Taiwan’s defence ministry said that as of 2pm (0600GMT) on Sunday it had detected 24 Chinese air force planes, including J-10, J-11, J-16 and Su-30 fighters, as well as H-6 bombers.
It did not say exactly where those aircraft flew, but did say 10 had crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait which separates the two sides and had previously served as an unofficial barrier, though China says it does not recognise that and has been routinely crossing it since last year.