Taiwan:  Taiwan's Defence Ministry said that seven Chinese warplanes and a US reconnaissance aircraft entered Taiwan's air defence identification zone on Sunday.

Five People's Liberation Army's aircraft - a Y-8 reconnaissance plane, two J-10 fighter jets and two J-11 bombers - were seen near the Taiwan-controlled Pratas Islands in the South China Sea, South China Morning Post quoted the Defence Ministry's statement. They were followed hours later by two PLA's J-11 bombers in the same area, it said separately. Taiwan for the first time in several months has mentioned about the presence of US military aircraft.

According to the SCMP, air defence identification zones are early warning systems that help countries to detect incursions into their airspace.

Any aircraft entering such an area is supposed to report its route and purpose to the "host" nation, though the zones are classified as international airspace and pilots are not legally bound to make such a notification.

Taiwan's military on Sunday said it had sent radio warnings to the PLA aircraft and air defence missile systems were deployed to monitor their activities. The new incursions come amid escalated tensions in the region as Beijing ramped up pressure on Taiwan.

Recently, China threatened that "Taiwan's independence" means war. Wu Qian, spokesperson of China's Ministry of National Defence, on January 28 "warned" the people wanting "Taiwan independence" and said that "those who play with fire will set themselves on fire, and seeking 'Taiwan independence' means nothing but war".

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