All 49 aircraft crossed the dividing line dividing the Taiwan Strait, the ministry said in a statement.
Earlier, the Taiwanese military announced that 68 Chinese combat aircraft and 13 warships crossed the “middle line” along the Taiwan Strait during military exercises conducted by Beijing forces on Friday.
“We condemn the communist army for deliberately crossing the middle line of the strait and carrying out harassment at sea and in the air in the vicinity of Taiwan,” the ministry said in a statement.
China, which angered US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan on Thursday, began four days of military exercises around the island, including launching missiles and deploying combat aircraft.
The Taiwan Strait is the world’s busiest waterway, and any disruption to its navigation could severely affect the movement of global supply chains.
It is the main route for ships carrying products and goods from the largest manufacturing countries in Asia, namely China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, to the European and American markets, as well as many other distribution points around the world.
Nearly half of the world’s containers, and about 88 percent of the world’s largest tonnage ships, pass through the strait, according to Bloomberg data.
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