Taiwan Reports New Incursion by Chinese Jets into Defense Zone

Last month, Japan said China's coastguard had expanded its presence in the contested waters by entering twice a month and as frequently as twice a week near the Japanese-controlled Senkaku Islands, known by the Chinese as Diaoyu.

Last week, the US Navy also conducted a two-day joint drill with their Australian counterparts in the Eastern Pacific, and on Sunday the American supercarrier USS Theodore Roosevelt entered the South China Sea after conducting joint drills with the Indian Navy and the Indian Air Force.

The aim is to "enhance its capability to safeguard national sovereignty, safety and development interests", it said.

China's widely read Global Times, published by the ruling Communist Party's official People's Daily, noted the Nanchang, the first of a powerful new fleet of Type 055 destroyers that entered service past year, was part of the carrier group.

It's also important to note that Japan's Defense Ministry announced late Sunday that the Liaoning carrier and five other warships were spotted Saturday sailing south through worldwide waters in the narrow passageway that separates Okinawa's main island and Miyako Island.

In a press release, the Japanese Defense Ministry said a Y-9 patrol aircraft had flown across the Miyako Strait and returned on Sunday (April 4).

After China's carrier group was spotted passing the waterway between Okinawa and Miyako islands towards the Pacific on Saturday, Japan has sent destroyer JS Suzutsuki, a P-1 maritime patrol aircraft and a P-3C anti-submarine warfare patrol aircraft to gather information and monitor the movements of the Chinese vessels.

"The combination of aircraft carriers and Type 055 large destroyers will become a standard configuration of Chinese aircraft carrier task groups in the future", it added.

Taiwan's defence ministry today reported a new incursion by China's air force into the island's air defence identification zone, made up of eight fighter jets and two other aircraft, one of which flew through the strategic Bashi Channel.

Japan controls the Senkaku Islands, however, China and Taiwan continue to claim them.