Taiwan has detected the presence of 10 Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft and two vessels near the island in the past 24 hours and has tasked its armed forces with monitoring and responding to their activities, the Taiwanese Defense Ministry said.

Three of these 10 aircraft — Y-8 anti-submarine aircraft, Z-9 helicopter and BZK-005 RECCE unmanned aerial vehicle — crossed the Taiwan Strait midline, the ministry added.

Meanwhile, Taiwan's Foreign Ministry has severely criticized China's efforts to present itself as a peacemaker in the Ukrainian conflict while "threatening war" against the self-governing island.

"The PRC threatens war against Taiwan and others, but wants to propose a peace plan to Russia, which started the war against Ukraine," Foreign Minister Joseph Wu said on the Taiwanese Foreign Ministry's Twitter account. "We're not idiots. Do we want peace? Both autocrats should immediately stop their threats, aggression and expansionism," the minister added.

Wu's reference to Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin comes as the Chinese president is engaged in a three-day trip to Moscow that has been described by Beijing as "a journey of peace."

The situation around Taiwan worsened after then-U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the island in August 2022. Beijing has condemned Pelosi's trip, which it considers a gesture of support for separatism, and has launched large-scale military exercises in the vicinity of the island.

Since then, China has also significantly increased Air Force incursions into Taiwan's Adiz (Air Defense Identification Zone) by 60% in February compared to the same period in 2022. The data released by the ministry refer to 113 military aircraft detected last month, an increase of 61.4 percent and 182.5 percent compared to the same periods in 2022 and 2021.

Beijing considers the island as its own province, while Taiwan - a territory with its own elected government - claims to be an autonomous country but has never officially declared independence.

China opposes any official contact of foreign states with Taipei and considers Chinese sovereignty over the island indisputable.

The visit to China of the former president of Taiwan

While relations between the two sides are at their lowest levels in decades, news broke yesterday of the historic visit to China by the former president of Taiwan, Ma Ying-jeou, the first ever made by a former president (or one in office) of the island since 1949, the year that marked the end of the civil war.

He will go to cities such as Nanjing, Wuhan, Changsha, Chongqing and Shanghai, almost at the same time that incumbent President Tsai Ing-wen will be in the United States, and should - according to the United Daily News of Taipei - meet prominent figures of the communist leadership including Wang Huning, ideologue of President Xi Jinping who has been entrusted with the task of elaborating a new political proposal for reunification given the crisis of the "one country two systems" model.

A weighty figure of the nationalists of the KMT now in opposition, Ma favored a climate of détente with Pechinor that culminated in 2015 with the historic meeting with Xi of Singapore, a few months after the end of his mandate.

China welcomed the visit, expressing readiness "to provide all necessary assistance," Taiwan Affairs Bureau spokesman Ma Xiaoguang said.