China’s 39 warplanes, mostly fighter-jets, entered Taiwan’s air defence zone Sunday in what was the country’s second largest daily incursion ever recorded.
China is constantly at the brink of invading Taiwan, and Taiwan, as a democratic self-governing island, sees it as part its territory, to be eventually reclaimed. Force may be necessary.
The last quarter 2021 witnessed a huge spike in incursions by China into Taiwan’s air defense ID zone (ADIZ). On October 4, 56 Chinese warplanes entered this zone.
Late Sunday, the island’s defense ministry reported that 39 Chinese warplanes entered Taiwan’s ADIZ. This is second to October 2, last year.
Chinese soldiers stand next to a J-10C aircraft of the Chinese military. China flew 39 warplanes and J-10 fighter jets to Taiwan, its biggest such flight of the year. The island responded with its J-10C aircraft.
Ten US Navy vessels, including the aircraft carriers USS Carl Vinson, and USS Abraham Lincoln participated in Japan exercises from January 17-22 ‘for effective response and deterrence’. Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force posted Monday that 10 US Navy ships were involved.
Additionally, it stated that the aircraft had been scrambled and broadcast warnings to its pilots. It also deployed its air defense missile systems in order to track down any planes who entered its territory.
These warplanes comprised 24 J-16 fighters (which experts believe are China’s most popular jets to test Taiwan’s air defenses), 10 J-10 fighters, and one H-6 bomber, both nuclear-capable.
China has not yet revealed the reason for its large-scale single-day space missions.
These incursions are coming on the heels Japan and the United States conducting naval exercises at the Philippine Sea. The area is also home to waters that lie east of Taiwan.
From January 17-22, ten US Navy vessels, including the aircraft carriers USS Carl Vinson, and USS Abraham Lincoln participated in joint exercises with Japan, Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force said Monday.
Only in September 2020, Taiwan began regularly publishing data about air incursions.
With 196 incursions in October, which included 149 made during the Beijing National Day celebrations, it remains the busiest month ever.
Although the defense zone does not correspond to Taiwan’s airspace, it is larger than that of Taiwan and overlaps significantly with China’s ADIZ.
The airspace southwest of Taiwan has been the location for the majority of this activity. It falls within the so-called air defense identification area, which Taiwan’s military labels the zone.
Beijing is putting pressure on Taiwan ever since TsaiIng-wen was elected President in 2016. She considers Taiwan a sovereign country and not part of China.
Beijing has increased pressure on Taiwan after Tsai Ingwen’s election as president in 2016. The island is considered a sovereign nation, and not part or ‘one China’.
According to AFP, Taiwan had 969 Chinese warplanes infiltrating its ADIZ in Taiwan last year. That’s more than twice the number of incursions that occurred in 2020, which was 380.
The China-aged fleet has put Taiwan’s Air Force under continuous pressure. In recent years, Taiwan’s fatal air accidents have been a constant reminder of this.
After one of their most advanced F-16V fighter jets collided into the ocean during routine training missions, one pilot was killed and one F-16 fighter plane was temporarily grounded by the air force.