China is ramping up military pressure ahead of Taiwan’s annual military exercises.

Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense says it detected 37 military aircraft and seven warships belonging to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army around Taiwan between 6 a.m. yesterday (Nov. 21) and 6 a.m. today (Nov. 22).

Twenty-two of the military aircraft either violated the midline of the Taiwan Strait or entered the air defense identification zone in southwest and east Taiwan, prompting the Taiwanese military to immediately scramble fighter jets to broadcast warnings and activate air defense missile systems to track the aircraft.

The midline of the Taiwan Strait is an unofficial demarcation line declared by U.S. Air Force General Benjamin Davis in 1955 to prevent military conflict between China and Taiwan after the signing of a mutual defense treaty between the United States and Taiwan in 1954.

Meanwhile, China’s Maritime Administration announced in a navigational safety information that it will hold live-fire drills in the South China Sea from 6:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. on April 24, prohibiting ships from entering the area during the drills.

China’s high-intensity show of force and live-fire drills appear to be unrelated to the “Hankuang 39” exercises that will begin across Taiwan on the 24th.

The drill is a military exercise that has been held 먹튀검증토토사이트 annually since 1984 to test the Taiwanese military’s ability to defend and repel a hypothetical Chinese invasion.