China launched military drills near Taiwan on Monday, the self-ruled island’s Ministry of National Defense announced on Tuesday, days after its president in Taipei referred to Beijing as a “foreign hostile force” and vowed to counter its attempts at infiltration.
A flight map released by the ministry detected 59 warplanes and drones, as well as nine vessels from China in the vicinity of the island with 43 of the aircraft crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait while others entered Taiwan’s air defense identification zone. Two balloons also circled the island.
