2 Chinese warplanes enters Taiwan air defence zone, 18th intrusion by PLA in April

In yet another intrusion, two Chinese military planes entered Taiwan's air defence identification zone (ADIZ) on Wednesday.

It marks the 18th such intrusion this month. On Tuesday, nine Chinese warplanes violated Taiwan's ADIZ.

One People's Liberation Army (PLA) Shaanxi Y-8 reconnaissance plane and one Shaanxi Y-8 electronic warfare plane flew into the southwest corner of Taiwan's ADIZ, Taiwan News reported citing the country's Ministry of National Defense (MND).

In response, Taiwan sent planes, issued radio warnings, and deployed air defense missile systems to track the Chinese aircraft.

Air defence identification zones are early warning systems that help countries detect incursions into their airspace.

Any aircraft entering such an area is supposed to report its route and purpose to the "host" nation, though the zones are classified as international airspace and pilots are not legally bound to make such a notification.

The new intrusions come after the US and Japanese leaders mentioned Taiwan in a joint statement, a first since 1969.

Since mid-September of last year, Beijing has stepped up its gray-zone tactics by regularly sending planes into Taiwan's ADIZ, with most instances occurring in the southwest corner of the zone and usually consisting of one to three slow-flying turboprop planes.

Over the past few months, Taiwan has reported incursion by Chinese warplanes into ADIZ almost daily.

Last month, Taiwanese premier Su Tseng-chang termed the incursion by Chinese warplanes into Taiwan's Air Defense Identification Zone (ADZ) as "unnecessary" and "thoughtless". Beijing claims full sovereignty over Taiwan, a democracy of almost 24 million people located off the southeastern coast of mainland China, despite the fact that the two sides have been governed separately for more than seven decades.

Taipei, on the other hand, has countered the Chinese aggression by increasing strategic ties with democracies including the US, which has been repeatedly opposed by Beijing.

China has threatened that "Taiwan's independence" means war.

Wu Qian, spokesperson of China's Ministry of National Defence, on January 28 "warned" the people wanting "Taiwan independence" and had said "those who play with fire will set themselves on fire, and seeking 'Taiwan independence' means nothing but war".

( With inputs from ANI )