China sent 38 warplanes into the skies around Taiwan on Friday, the highest number of Chinese military aircraft to breach the island's Air Defense Identification Zone in a single day since Taipei began publicly reporting such activities last year, Taiwan's Defense Ministry said Friday night, CNN reported.

The People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) aircrafts came in two waves, the Defense Ministry said.

Twenty-five PLA warplanes entered the southwestern corner of the ADIZ during daylight hours, and another 13 planes entered the island's southwest ADIZ on Friday night, the ministry said in a statement.

These warplanes, however, did not enter Taiwan's airspace, which extends 12 nautical miles from its coast.

The US Federal Aviation Administration defines an ADIZ as "a designated area of airspace over land or water within which a country requires the immediate and positive identification, location and air traffic control of aircraft in the interest of the country's national security."