Chinese military sent 71 aircraft and seven ships toward Taiwan

 HONG KONG — The Chinese military sent 71 aircraft and seven ships toward Taiwan in 24 hours, Taiwan’s government said Monday, in its biggest show of force since House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the island this year.

The aggression toward the self-ruling democracy, which Beijing claims as its territory, came after the Chinese government objected to a U.S. defense spending bill passed Friday that includes greater support for Taiwan’s military.

The Chinese military action, which lasted from 6 a.m. Sunday (5 p.m. Saturday ET) until 6 a.m. Monday, included J-10, J-11 and J-16 fighter jets, as well as drones, according to a map released by Taiwan’s defense ministry. The ministry said 47 of the planes crossed the median line, an unofficial boundary in the Taiwan Strait.

Taiwan said its military was monitoring the situation using planes, ships and land-based missile systems, adding that the Chinese drills were an effort to intimidate the people of Taiwan, who strongly reject Beijing’s claims of sovereignty.

China, which has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control, said Sunday that it had held joint exercises in the sea and airspace around the island. 

“This is a firm response to the current U.S.-Taiwan escalation and provocation,” Shi Yi, the spokesman for the Eastern Theater Command of the People’s Liberation Army, the Chinese military, said in a statement Sunday night.