Taipei Slams 'incursion' By PLA Fighter Jets

Taipei has hit out at Beijing for what it said was a "reckless and provocative" incursion by two fighter jets across a largely respected line dividing the two sides in the Taiwan Strait.

The Defence Ministry said Taiwan scrambled its own aircraft on Sunday morning and broadcast warnings after two J-11 fighter jets crossed over the "median line" in the waters that separate the island from the mainland.

"At 11 am, March 31, 2 PLAAF J-11 jets violated the long-held tacit agreement by crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Twitter. "It was an intentional, reckless and provocative action. We've informed regional partners and condemn China for such behaviour."

Beijing has increased the number of fighter and warship crossings near Taiwan or through the straits in recent years, rattling nerves on the island at a time when relations are at a low point.

But it is highly unusual for its aircraft to cross the so-called median line, a widely agreed upon boundary that passes through the middle of the straits.

Taiwanese media said the last time mainland jets had crossed the line was in 2011. That incident was portrayed by both sides as an inadvertent mistake by two jets responding to a nearby US spy plane.

But Taipei described the latest incursion as a deliberate act. Presidential Office spokesman Alex Huang called the flights "provocative and damaging the cross-straits status quo".

The flights come a week after the US sailed a destroyer and a coastguard ship through the Taiwan Strait, angering Beijing.

Although the straits are an international waterway China often hits out when US or other western navy ships pass through them. (AFP)