Arizona Tribune - Taiwan says detects 45 Chinese aircraft in 24-hours, highest this year

In the 24 hours to 6:00 am (2200 GMT on Wednesday), 45 Chinese aircraft and 14 warships were spotted near the island, the defence ministry said in a statement.

China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has threatened to use force to bring the island under its control.

Taiwan said Wednesday that China staged a combat drill with aircraft and warships and announced "live-fire exercises" in an area about 40 nautical miles (74 kilometres) off the island's south, which Taipei condemned as dangerous and a violation of "international norms".

Beijing's foreign ministry declined to comment on Wednesday.

China has ramped up the deployment of fighter jets and naval vessels around Taiwan in recent years to press its claim of sovereignty over the island, which Taipei rejects.

On Tuesday, Taiwan seized a Chinese-crewed cargo ship suspected of severing a subsea telecoms cable serving Taiwan's Penghu island group.

There is growing concern in Taiwan over the security of its cables after a Chinese-owned cargo ship was suspected of cutting one northeast of the island this year.

Taiwan fears China could sever its communication links as part of an attempt to seize the island or to blockade it.

Taiwan is also a potential flashpoint for a war between China and the United States, which is the island's most important backer and biggest arms supplier.

While the United States is legally bound to provide arms to Taiwan, Washington has long maintained "strategic ambiguity" when it comes to whether it would deploy its military to defend it from a Chinese attack.

Despite strong bipartisan support in the US Congress for Taiwan, there are fears that President Donald Trump might not consider the island worth defending if China attacked.

Taiwan President Lai Ching-te has already vowed to boost investment in the United States to reduce the trade imbalance and spend more on the island's military, while his government is also considering increasing US natural gas imports.

Beijing regards Lai as a "separatist" and has staged several rounds of major military exercises since he came to power last May.

The dispute between Beijing and Taipei dates back to the civil war between Mao Zedong's communist fighters and Chiang Kai-shek's nationalist forces, which fled to Taiwan in 1949 following their defeat.

H.Thompson--AT