Chinese Helicopter Makes Record Close Approach to Taiwan

A Chinese military helicopter crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait for the first time and approached Taiwan.

The Taiwan Air Force reported this.

The helicopter entered Taiwan’s air defense identification zone and flew in the R9 restricted flight zone, marking its closest recorded approach to the island.

According to the agency, between 06:00 a.m. on July 20 and 06:00 a.m. on July 21, four flights by Chinese People’s Liberation Army aircraft were recorded near Taiwan, including a military helicopter and a drone.

Five Chinese Navy ships and six Chinese government vessels also operated near the island.

Between 06:00 a.m. on July 21 and 06:00 a.m. on July 22, 2026, the situation repeated from the opposite direction.

Eleven of the 12 aircraft crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait and entered Taiwan’s northern, southwestern and eastern air defense zones.

The helicopter activity also repeated. From 09:05 a.m. to 05:05 p.m. local time, it conducted two flights, this time approaching even closer to Taiwan’s airspace at coordinates 21.15618588594527, 121.24237772213691.

Since the beginning of 2026, this has not been the first time China has carried out provocative aircraft flights near Taiwan, creating risks for both civilian air traffic and shipping. For example, on March 29, 2026, Taiwanese military officials recorded 19 Chinese aircraft and nine People’s Liberation Army Navy ships near the island.

A similar situation is observed in Japan’s air defense identification zone.

The Joint Staff reported that between April 1, 2025, and March 31, 2026, Japanese fighter jets were scrambled 595 times to identify foreign aircraft.

These included aircraft that entered Japan’s Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) without a previously filed flight plan, failed to respond to radio requests, or had their transponders turned off.

The highest activity was recorded from China. Chinese aircraft accounted for 366 Japanese fighter jet scrambles, or about 62% of all cases. Russian aircraft accounted for 214 interceptions.

The Japanese military also recorded two incidents involving Taiwan and 13 involving other countries. No activity by North Korean aircraft was recorded during the reporting period. The greatest burden fell on the Southwest Air Command, which is responsible for the East China Sea and the Ryukyu Islands.

There, fighters were scrambled 348 times. The Northern Air Command, responsible for the Russian direction, carried out 165 interceptions. The Central Air Command conducted 36 sorties, and the Western Air Command — 46.

Militarnyi previously reported that Chinese law enforcement vessels entered Taiwan’s territorial waters for the first time near Taiping Island in the South China Sea.