China sees democratic Taiwan as a breakaway province, but Taiwan sees itself as a sovereign state. Taiwan has been complaining for more than a year about repeated missions by China's air force near the island. "China has been wantonly engaged in military aggression, damaging regional peace," Taiwan Premier Su Tseng-chang told reporters on Saturday.
The government in Beijing - which is marking 72 years since the founding of the People's Republic of China - has so far made no public comment. But it has previously said such flights were to protect its sovereignty and also targeted "collusion" between Taiwan and the US.
