China conducted another significant incursion into Taiwan’s airspace this week, continuing a pattern of increasing military pressure on the island. Over a 24-hour period from Wednesday to Thursday morning, Taiwan’s Ministry of Defense reported that 24 Chinese aircraft and five naval vessels crossed the Taiwan Strait Median Line, the unofficial de facto boundary separating the island from mainland China.
The incident came shortly after Taiwanese President William Lai publicly referred to Taiwan as a “country,” a statement likely to provoke Beijing, which views the island as a breakaway province.
According to the ministry, the aircraft entered Taiwan’s Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) from three directions—north, southwest, and east—surrounding the island in a show of force. The incursion followed a similar incident on June 20th, when 40 Chinese aircraft entered the ADIZ.
The number of Chinese incursions has risen dramatically in recent years. In 2021, Chinese aircraft entered Taiwan’s ADIZ 972 times, with 240 days of median line crossings. This increased to 1,738 aircraft and 269 crossing days in 2022, and 1,703 aircraft across 271 days in 2023. The pace accelerated further in 2024, with 3,615 aircraft incursions and 313 days of median line violations—both record figures.
As of mid-June 2025, approximately 1,755 to 2,200 People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft have already entered Taiwan’s ADIZ, with projections suggesting as many as 4,800 to 5,280 incursions by year’s end if current trends continue.
Cross-strait relations have sharply deteriorated in recent years. In August 2022, then-U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in a move widely viewed as a departure from the long-standing U.S. "One China Policy," which recognizes the People's Republic of China in Beijing as the sole legitimate government of all of China, including Taiwan.
U.S. military support for Taiwan has also increased significantly. Green Berets from the U.S. Army’s 1st Special Forces Group are currently stationed at Taiwanese military bases on Kinmen and Penghu islands, which lie just two kilometers (1.2 miles) from the mainland. The U.S. has also provided HIMARS rocket systems to Taiwanese forces and deployed Navy-Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) anti-ship missiles to the Philippines.