TAIPEI, Taiwan (AFP) — China deployed 71 warplanes in weekend military exercises around Taiwan, Taipei's defense ministry said Monday, including dozens of fighter jets in one of the biggest daily incursions to date.

The People's Liberation Army said it had conducted a "strike drill" on Sunday in response to unspecified "provocations" and "collusion" between the United States and the self-ruled island.

Data from Taiwan's defense ministry showed those drills were one of the largest since they started releasing daily tallies.

In a post on Twitter, Taiwan said 60 fighter jets took part in the drills, including six Su-30 warplanes, some of China's most advanced.

Moreover, 47 of the sorties crossed into the island's air defense identification zone, the third-highest daily incursion on record, according to AFP's database.

Taiwan lives under constant threat of invasion by China, which claims the democratic island as part of its territory, to be taken one day.

Beijing has ramped up military, diplomatic and economic pressure on Taiwan under President Xi Jinping as relations have deteriorated.

One of the pressure tactics China has increasingly used is probing Taiwan's ADIZ with its warplanes.