Taiwan Tracks 2nd Chinese Military Patrol in a Week

Taiwan sent naval vessels and fighter jets to monitor Chinese military aircraft and warships during what it called a joint combat readiness patrol around the island on Monday.

Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense said it detected 21 Chinese aircraft, including J-16 fighter jets and drones, operating around Taiwan alongside warships.

The ministry released three photographs taken by its forces showing two Chinese fighters trailing a Y-20 refueling aircraft, the destroyer Yinchuan, and a Taiwanese sailor observing the vessel.

The patrol marked the second such operation in a week. Taiwan’s National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu described the activity as unprovoked in a May 25 post on X.

“For the 2nd time in a week, shortly after the Beijing summit, the [People’s Liberation Army] conducted a ‘joint combat readiness patrol’ around Taiwan,” Wu wrote.

“This is unprovoked. The [People’s Republic of China] is the sole source of instability in the Indo-Pacific.”

China’s Ministry of National Defense did not respond to The Epoch Times’ request for comment by the time of publication.

Wu also said Taiwan had detected China’s aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, operating in the Western Pacific. Pan Chun-kuang, a senior official in the defense ministry’s intelligence department, told reporters in Taipei that monitoring of the carrier group was continuing.

Military analysts say the patrols have brought Chinese naval forces increasingly close to Taiwan. According to Su Tzu-yun of the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, Chinese warships equipped with cruise missiles have operated as close as 24 nautical miles from Taiwan’s coast.

This leaves air defense forces with far less time to respond, as ship-launched sea-skimming missiles are difficult to detect and could reach targets in about three minutes. Su added that such a surprise missile attack could temporarily paralyze Taiwan.

The latest activity follows another patrol last week, shortly before Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te marked two years in office.

Over the weekend, Taiwan’s coast guard confronted a Chinese vessel near the Taiwan-controlled Pratas Islands. Earlier, Wu said more than 100 Chinese ships had been deployed along the first island chain stretching from Japan to the Philippines.

The Pratas Islands occupy a strategic position in the northern South China Sea, where encounters between Chinese and Taiwanese vessels have become increasingly common.

The recent operations form part of a broader pattern of military activity around Taiwan. Since Lai took office in 2024, Chinese military aircraft have regularly entered Taiwan’s air defense identification zone, although the scale of operations has varied.

Taiwan reported additional patrols in March and April 2026, including one in mid-March involving 36 aircraft.

In late 2025, China conducted large-scale military exercises that included live-fire drills and simulated blockade operations closer to Taiwan than in previous exercises.

Taiwan routinely scrambles fighter jets and deploys naval assets in response while calling for dialogue with Beijing. The Chinese regime, which claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory despite having never ruled the island, has rejected talks with Lai.

The heightened activity comes after Chinese leader Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump discussed Taiwan during a meeting in Beijing this month.

Reuters contributed to this report.