Taiwanese military officials say China deployed a record 18 nuclear-capable H-6 bomber aircraft into Taiwan’s air defense zone this week in a new escalation of Beijing’s aggressive posturing toward the island democracy.
A total of 21 Chinese military aircraft entered the skies around Taiwan during the 24 hours leading up to Tuesday morning, days after Beijing increased its ban on certain Taiwanese food, fishery and other imports.
The aircraft incursion follows months of increased Chinese military activity around Taiwan and represented the largest daily sortie of Chinese H-6 bombers over the island since Taipei began releasing daily incursion data in 2020, according to Agence France-Presse.