The PLA last month sent an average of 5.4 aircraft per day across the median line of the Taiwan Strait, according to data from the Ministry of National Defense. A map shows the sighting of a Chinese balloon near Taiwan in the 24 hours that ended at 6am yesterday. Photo courtesy of the Ministry of National Defense“More experienced pilots can now devote more time to tactical training, rather than training aimed at increasing individual flight hours,” he said. Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) has been conducting a purge of the military’s top ranks, most recently taking down the nation’s top general. Those developments were probably unrelated to recent training activity by PLA warplanes, said Drew Thompson, a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.

Source: Taipei Times February 09, 2026 16:09 UTC