Taipei: On Sunday, Taiwan's air force launched an emergency response after spotting 10 Chinese warplanes crossing the Taiwan Strait's delicate median line, and the island's defence ministry reported that four Chinese warships were also conducting combat patrols.

Taiwan has reported renewed Chinese military activity twice in less than a week. On Thursday, 37 Chinese military aircraft flew into the island's air defence zone, some of which then flew into the western Pacific.

Over the past three years, China, which regards democratically-governed Taiwan as its own territory, has routinely used its air force over the skies nearby the island, but not in Taiwan's sovereign airspace.

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Although China claims it does not recognise that and has been routinely crossing the Taiwan Strait since last year, the report did say that 10 of the aircraft had flown over the median line that divides the two sides of the strait. It did not specify where those aircraft flew, but it did say that it had done so.

The ministry added that four Chinese naval ships were also participating in "joint combat readiness patrols," but it provided no further information.

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Taiwan responded to such Chinese actions by deploying its own fighter aircraft, ships, and land-based missile defence systems, it claimed, using standard language for how it does so.

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China's military remained silent right away. Following the President of Taiwan's visit to the United States, China held war games near Taiwan in April. The Taiwanese government denies China's claims to sovereignty and asserts that only the island's residents have the power to determine its future.