Taipei [Taiwan], February 11 (ANI): Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense detected the presence of nine Chinese military aircraft, eight naval vessels and an official ship operating around its territorial waters as of 6 am (local time) on Wednesday.

Of the nine, six sorties crossed the median line and entered Taiwan's southwestern and southeastern ADIZ.

In a post on X, the MND said, '9 PLA aircraft, 8 PLAN vessels and 1 official ship operating around Taiwan were detected up until 6 a.m. (UTC+8) today. 6 out of 9 sorties crossed the median line and entered Taiwan's southwestern and southeastern ADIZ. We have monitored the situation and responded.'

https://x.com/MoNDefense/status/2021388717819363455?s=20

Earlier on Tuesday, Taiwan detected the presence of four sorties of Chinese military aircraft and eight naval vessels. All four sorties crossed the median line and entered Taiwan's southwestern ADIZ.

In a post on X, the MND said, '4 sorties of PLA aircraft and 8 PLAN vessels operating around Taiwan were detected up until 6 a.m. (UTC+8) Today. 4 out of 4 sorties crossed the median line and entered Taiwan's southwestern ADIZ. We have monitored the situation and responded.'

https://x.com/MoNDefense/status/2021026329458561100?s=20

Taiwan should prioritise reinforcing its own national defence to deter any possible invasion by China as cross-strait tensions continue to escalate, several European lawmakers said on Friday, according to a report by the Taipei Times.

At the conclusion of a six-day visit to Taiwan by an eight-member European parliamentary delegation, the lawmakers called on Taipei to remain alert and increase its defence spending. 'All those who say they want to protect you actually want to conquer you,' Ukrainian lawmaker Serhii Soboliev said when asked what lessons Taiwan could learn from Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Soboliev described Kremlin as a 'new fascist Nazi regime' that justified its aggression by claiming to defend 'so-called Russian-speaking populations,' mirroring how Nazi Germany once invoked the protection of ethnic Germans to legitimise its expansion, the Taipei Times reported.

'And what is the reality of this 'protection'? Destroyed citizens,' he said. Soboliev urged Taiwan to stop third parties from transferring sensitive technologies to Russia and underlined the urgency of increasing defence spending. 'Before the war, we even tried to reduce our defence budget to below 5 per cent. Now we spend more than 50 per cent,' he was cited as saying in the Taipei Times report. (ANI)