TAIPEI – Taiwan’s Defence Ministry said on Saturday morning that over the past 24 hours, it had detected 20 Chinese air force planes entering the island’s air defence zone, including a combat drone that flew along Taiwan’s Pacific east coast.

Democratically governed Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory, has complained for three years of increased military pressure from Beijing.

Last Saturday, China held a day of drills around Taiwan in an angry response to brief stopovers in August in the United States by Vice-President William Lai.

Offering further details on Friday’s Chinese activity, Taiwan’s Defence Ministry said the aircraft involved included Su-30 and J-10 fighters and anti-submarine aircraft.

China’s Defence Ministry did not answer calls seeking comment on Saturday.

Some of the fighters and drones crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait, previously an unofficial barrier between the two sides but which over the past year Chinese aircraft have routinely crossed, according to a map Taiwan’s ministry provided.

A TB-001 drone flew to Taiwan’s north, headed into the Pacific, broadly tracking the island’s east coast, then looped back along the same flight path and returned to China, the map showed.

The Chinese state media has called the TB-001 the “twin-tailed scorpion” and shown pictures of it with missiles under its wings, saying it is capable of high-altitude, long-range missions.

In April, Taiwan said the same model of drone had flown around the island.

The ministry said it could not judge whether the drills China started last Saturday had formally ended, as Beijing had made no announcement. China has continued military movements around Taiwan.

China has condemned the US for approving further arms sales to Taiwan, and the island announced it planned to spend US$3 billion (S$4.1 billion) in 2024 to buy weapons, including fighter jets.

Taiwan has not reported any Chinese military aircraft in its territorial airspace, though it has said planes have come close to the island’s contiguous zone, which is within 24 nautical miles of its coast.

China’s Defence Ministry on Friday urged the United States to stop “arming” Taiwan, after the US State Department approved a possible US$500 million sale to the island of infrared search and track systems for F-16 fighter jets, and other equipment.

“China urges the US side to effectively fulfil its commitment not to support the independence of Taiwan, to immediately stop arming Taiwan, and to stop enhancing US-Taiwan military ties,” ministry spokesman Zhang Xiaogang said in a statement. REUTERS