Taipei, Dec. 18 -- Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense detected 40 sorties of Chinese military aircraft and eight naval vessels around its territorial waters as of 6am (local time) on Thursday.

As per the MND, of the 40, 26 sorties crossed the median line and entered Taiwan's northern, central, southwestern and eastern ADIZ.

In a post on X, the MND said, "40 sorties of PLA aircraft and 8 PLAN vessels operating around Taiwan were detected up until 6 a.m. (UTC+8) today. 26 out of 40 sorties crossed the median line and entered Taiwan's northern, central, southwestern and eastern ADIZ. We have monitored the situation and responded."

Earlier on Wednesday, Taiwan detected overall 23 sorties of PLA aircraft as of 8:30am (local time). Of the...