China Sends Record Number Warplanes Near Taiwan As NATO Blasts Destabilizing Threats

China has sent a record-breaking number of warplanes across the median line of the Taiwan Strait, at a moment the annual NATO summit in Washington is still underway. Taiwan’s Ministry of Defense announced in a statement that "66 PLA aircraft and seven PLAN vessels operating around Taiwan were detected up until 6am [22:00 GMT Wednesday] today."

Among those 66, some 56 of the aircraft crossed over the median line, which serves as an unofficial border between the two sides, after which Taiwan scrambled aircraft and put missile systems on high alert "in response" to the People's Liberation Army (PLA) incursions.