Taiwan's Defense Ministry said on Tuesday that it detected 153 Chinese military aircraft around the self-ruled island as China held a day of large-scale military drills. 

The aircraft were spotted in the 25 hours to 6 a.m. local time on Tuesday (2200 UTC), the ministry said, adding that the total was the highest recorded in a single day. 

Of the aircraft spotted, Taipei said 111 crossed the median line of the sensitive Taiwan Strait that separates China and Taiwan.

The ministry also reported 14 Chinese navy ships in proximity to the island in the same period.

Meanwhile, Japan's government said on Tuesday that it had expressed "concerns" to Beijing in response to the military activity. 

"The government is closely monitoring the related activities with great interest, and has conveyed Japan's concerns to the Chinese side," deputy chief cabinet secretary Kazuhiko Aoki told reporters.

Major military exercise, second of the year

China's military said on Monday that the operation, which it called "Joint Sword-2024B," should serve as a warning against "separatist acts." It said the drill took place in the Taiwan Strait and to the north, south and east of Taiwan. An earlier exercise in April was called Joint Sword-2024A.

Taiwan's Defense Ministry said it responded by dispatching "appropriate forces" and placing its outlying islands on "high alert." 

China has claimed Taiwan as part of its territory ever since the Communist revolution and the proclamation of the People's Republic of China in 1949, after Beijing's previous government fled to the self-ruled island.

Taiwan's relatively new President Lai Ching-te recently led National Day celebrations in Taipei and said the island was not "subordinate" to China, in comments that might have riled Beijing. 

China's military had said when commenting on Monday's exercises that it would respond to "each 'Taiwan independence' provocation," without mentioning any incidents in particular.

Several countries including Germany have also sent ships through the Taiwan Strait recently in a bid to show support for Taipei.

Pentagon says war games 'destabilizing,' EU urges restraint

The Pentagon in the US criticized China's military exercises as excessive. 

"This military pressure operation is irresponsible, disproportionate, and destabilizing," Pentagon spokesperson Air Force Major General Patrick Ryder said in a statement late on Monday.

EU foreign policy spokesperson Nabila Massrali meanwhile said the EU called "on all parties to exercise restraint and avoid any actions that may further escalate cross-strait tensions, which should be resolved through dialogue." 

She said the bloc opposed "any unilateral actions that change the status quo by force or coercion," echoing comments made by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. 

Scholz said in Berlin when asked about the drills that Germany expected nobody to be "trying to use force to change the situation" between Taiwan and China, but added that this nevertheless did not prevent Germany from "monitoring things closely." 

msh/jsi (AFP, Reuters)