President Tsai visits military bases in Kaohsiung

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen visited Air Force and Navy personnel in the southern port city of Kaohsiung on Saturday, to boost morale amid escalating tensions in the Taiwan Strait.

On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, China sent two planes into Taiwan's air defense identification zone, according to Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense.

In response, the Taiwanese side dispatched air patrols, the ministry said.

Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen has remained defiant, visiting a military base on Tuesday and encouraging the personnel, in particular pilots and crew.

On Saturday, Tsai visited the 3rd Logistic Unit of the Air Force Command Headquarters and listened to servicemen's briefing on their daily jobs, maintaining and repairing aircraft engines.

At a meal with Navy servicemen afterwards, she called them "unsung heroes" in the first presidential visit to the unit during its over six decades of existence.

The president also said she was "very impressed" with the capabilities of Navy servicemen who wear heavy diving suits to operate underwater.

China has increased diplomatic and military pressure on Tsai’s government over her refusal to agree to China’s insistence that the island be considered part of Chinese territory.

The vast majority of Taiwanese reject the prospect of political union with China under the “one country, two systems” framework used for Hong Kong.

Following Tsai's election in 2016, China cut off contact with the Taiwanese government and has sought to isolate it, siphoning off the island's diplomatic allies while ratcheting up political, military and economic pressure.