Dozens of Chinese military aircraft and ships entered Taiwan's air defence zone from Friday to Sunday, as Beijing launched its largest-ever military exercises around the island. These manoeuvres allowed Western military experts to study the modernisation of the Chinese army.
As China’s largest-ever military exercises surrounding Taiwan were coming to a close on Sunday, Taiwan’s transport ministry said six out of the seven "temporary danger zones" set up by China were no longer in operation as of noon on Sunday, signalling a partial end to the drills. It added that the seventh zone, located in waters east of Taiwan, would remain in effect until 10am (0200 GMT) local time on Monday. Beijing has also announced that new drills will be taking place in the Yellow Sea, located between China and the Korean peninsula, until August 15. Despite some assurances from Beijing of a drawdown in its military activities, by late Sunday Taiwan's defence ministry said it had detected 66 Chinese air force jets and 14 Chinese warships conducting drills in and around the Taiwan Strait.
