China has resumed military flights near Taiwan’s airspace after an unexplained week-long hiatus, the self-governed island’s government said.
At least two Chinese warplanes entered Taiwan’s Air Defence Identification Zone in the early hours of Saturday, the defence ministry said in a statement.
For months, China launched hundreds of flights around the island as part of what was seen as an intimidation tactic until the number suddenly fell to dozens in the past month.
The ADIZ is a sensitive space around the island that extends beyond China’s airspace and Beijing routinely sends its forces into it.
In January last year, the Chinese military conducted 248 flights followed by 362 in February. The number of flights reduced drastically this year, with 166 flights in January and 161 in February.
The flights came to a sudden halt on 27 February, according to Taiwanese officials monitoring the activities of China’s air and naval forces around the island.
2 PLA aircraft, 6 PLAN vessels and 1 official ship operating around Taiwan were detected up until 6 a.m. (UTC+8) today. 2 out of 2 sorties entered Taiwan’s southwestern ADIZ. #ROCArmedForces have monitored the situation and responded. pic.twitter.com/haG7JtvINo
— 國防部 Ministry of National Defense, ROC(Taiwan) 🇹🇼 (@MoNDefense) March 7, 2026
This is the lowest number of Chinese sorties since Taiwanese president William Lai Ching-te took office in May 2024.
“Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defence reported no PLA incursions for 13 out of 28 days in February, despite such incursions occurring almost every day in recent years,” the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said. “The unusual decline in ADIZ incursions since the start of 2026 is still consistent with a typical seasonal decline in the PLA’s ADIZ incursions each winter since 2023, however.”
The incursions, it added, “may increase in the spring”.
China claims sovereignty over Taiwan and seeks to “reunite” it with the mainland, by force if necessary.
Beijing has for decades forced its trade partners to sign up to some form of the “One China” policy, which recognises its claim to Taiwan and accepts that the administration in Beijing is the only legal Chinese government.
The reason for the week-long absence of Chinese military flights around Taiwan remains unclear but the lack of activity coincides with the US-Israeli war against Iran, an ally of China.
The US and Israel started striking Iran last week, kicking off a major conflict in the Middle East.
The hiatus also comes just weeks before US president Donald Trump is expected to visit China for a high-level meeting with his counterpart Xi Jinping.
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