China sends biggest daily sortie of bombers toward Taiwan in at least two years

China’s military sent its biggest daily sortie of bombers into the Taiwan Strait in at least two years, in apparent show of displeasure over a visit by a key member of Japan’s ruling party.

The 18 H-6 strategic bombers — the most in Bloomberg-compiled data going back to September 2020 — were part of a sortie of 29 warplanes that Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said it detected as of early Tuesday. Three Chinese naval vessels were also spotted.

Japan’s military said fighters on Monday were “scrambled to cope with a suspected intrusion” into Japan’s airspace over the East China Sea, though it didn’t name any country.

China usually increases the number of planes it sends into the strait after events that it deems provocative. Last month when UK Trade Minister Greg Hands visited the democratically run island that Beijing has vowed to bring under its control, China’s air force sent a sortie of 46 warplanes toward Taiwan.

Over the weekend, Koichi Hagiuda became the most senior sitting ruling Liberal Democratic Party member to visit Taiwan in 19 years.

In a meeting on Saturday, President Tsai Ing-wen told the LDP’s policy chief that Taiwan would continue to deepen partnerships with Japan, and urged it to support Taiwan’s membership in the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade deal known as the CPTPP.

Hagiuda later said China should refrain from using force to change the status quo in the Taiwan Strait and Japan was determined to “bolster strike capabilities” in an effort to strengthen deterrence.

His visit came just days after Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida ordered a sharp hike in defense spending. The funding is set to be used for items such as stockpiling missiles capable of striking military targets in China, Russia, and North Korea.