Nine Chinese official ships outnumber PLA warships around Taiwan as two helicopters cross the median line

Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense said on Sunday that it had detected two sorties by People's Liberation Army aircraft, five PLA Navy ships and nine Chinese official ships operating around Taiwan in the 24 hours to 6 a.m. local time. Both aircraft sorties crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait and entered the northern and central parts of Taiwan's air defence identification zone, according to the ministry's daily report.

The ministry's flight-path chart showed that both sorties were flown by helicopters, the Taiwanese news site Newtalk reported. One operated over the sea northeast of Taiwan between 9:05 a.m. and 11:05 a.m. on Saturday, and the other flew near Wuqiu between 2:35 p.m. and 6:10 p.m. local time, the report said. Together the warships and official ships brought the number of Chinese vessels the ministry counted around Taiwan to 14.

The ministry said its forces had used patrol aircraft, navy ships and shore-based missile systems to monitor the activity and respond to it. The Indian news agency ANI reported that the ministry posted the same figures on its account on X, describing the response as monitoring of the situation by the Republic of China armed forces.

The new report marks a shift in the mix of Chinese activity rather than in its overall scale. In its report for the previous 24 hours, published on Saturday, the ministry listed nine PLA aircraft sorties, six PLA Navy ships and eight official ships. Five of those nine sorties crossed the median line into the northern, central and southwestern parts of the identification zone. Over the two days, the number of aircraft fell from nine to two while the official ships rose from eight to nine. In both counts, Chinese government vessels outnumbered the PLA Navy warships.

The ministry's reports do not say where the official ships operated or which Chinese agencies they belong to. They came after a separate encounter near the Pratas Islands, the Taiwan-controlled atoll in the South China Sea. Taiwan's Coast Guard Administration said two China Coast Guard ships, numbered 3301 and 3303, entered the restricted waters around Pratas at 3:34 p.m. on Friday, according to the Taipei Times. A coast guard patrol ship and a patrol boat shadowed them, broadcast warnings in Chinese and English and ordered them to leave, and the standoff was still under way when the agency issued its statement that night.

The coast guard's Dongsha-Nansha branch said it had carried out 11 operations this year to expel Chinese coast guard ships from waters around Pratas, involving 14 vessel encounters. It described Friday's incursion as an attempt by Beijing to use law enforcement activity to expand its authority and create the appearance of jurisdiction over the area, the newspaper reported.

ANI, citing Coast Guard Administration figures first reported by the Taipei Times, said 244 Chinese vessels were detected in waters around Taiwan in the latest month counted, compared with 55 in June and 30 in May. About 60 percent of those vessels were Chinese coast guard ships, and the figures did not include PLA Navy ships, which the ministry tracks separately. The agency also cited Ryan Martinson of the US Naval War College, who said data gathered by Chinese civilian research ships can be shared with the military and is especially useful for submarine and anti-submarine operations.

Taiwan's defence ministry publishes its tally every morning, covering the 24 hours to 6 a.m. Its latest two reports show the number of Chinese official ships around the island holding at eight or more on consecutive days, even as PLA air activity dropped to a pair of helicopter flights.