During its extensive military exercises on Monday, China flew a record number of fighter jets and other aeroplanes over Taiwan, according to the Defence Ministry of the island.
The latest in a string of recent war games carried out by Beijing against its neighbour, the one-day military exercises featured Chinese fighter jets, drones, warships, and Coast Guard vessels simulating a blockade of the self-governing island. Taiwan denounced the exercises as “unreasonable provocation.”
During a 25-hour period between Monday and Tuesday, the ministry reported that 153 Chinese aircraft were spotted in the vicinity of Taiwan. Of those, 111 warplanes crossed the Median Line – an informal demarcation point in the Taiwan Strait that Beijing does not recognize, but until recent years had largely respected – and entered Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ).
An ADIZ is unilaterally imposed and distinct from sovereign airspace, which is defined under international law as extending 12 nautical miles from a territory’s shoreline. No Chinese warplanes were spotted entering Taiwan’s sovereign airspace, a step that would be considered a major escalation.
While not directly comparable, the spike in Chinese warplanes on Monday superseded the previous daily record in September 2023, when 103 Chinese military aircraft were detected operating around Taiwan in a 24-hour span. In response to the latest incursions, Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said it employed its own aircraft, navy vessels and coastal missile systems to monitor the activity.
China said its military drills were intended as a “stern waning” to independence forces in Taiwan and came days after the island’s new president, Lai Ching-te, gave a speech vowing to protect Taiwan’s sovereignty in the face of challenges from Beijing. Taiwan “is not subordinate” to China, Lai said on Taiwan’s National Day Thursday, and Beijing “does not have the right to represent Taiwan.” China’s military exercises around Taiwan, a democracy of 24 million people, have become increasingly frequent in recent years and have tended to coincide with events that have angered Beijing.
Those drills allow China to monitor Taiwan’s responses and also tax the island’s own military resources including its aging and outgunned fleet of fighter jets. Analysts said Monday’s drills were part of a general strategy of both keeping Taiwan under pressure and normalizing regular war games.
The ruling Chinese Communist Party views Taiwan as part of its territory, despite having never controlled it. It has long vowed that the island must be “unified” with the Chinese mainland, by force if necessary, while the Taiwanese authorities strongly reject China’s territorial claims over it. Many people on the island view themselves as distinctly Taiwanese. The People’s Liberation Army said the drills were a joint operation of the army, navy, air force and rocket force, and were conducted in the Taiwan Strait – a narrow body of water separating the island from mainland China – as well as encircling Taiwan.
Source: Here
