Pressure is increasing on this autonomous island, claimed by China. More than a hundred Chinese planes and nine warships were detected around Taiwan in the space of 24 hours, the island’s authorities said Monday, the highest number recorded recently.
“Between September 17 and 18 in the morning, the Ministry of Defense detected a total of 103 Chinese planes, which constitutes a record in the recent (period) and poses serious security problems on both sides of the Taiwan Strait and the region,” the ministry said in a statement. “Continued military harassment” from China “can easily lead to a surge in tensions and deteriorate security in the region,” he warned, calling on Beijing to “immediately cease these destructive unilateral actions.”
The Air Defense Identification Zone
Of the military aircraft detected, 40 crossed the median line – an unofficial demarcation between China and Taiwan that the former does not recognize – and entered the southwest Air Defense Identification Zone (Adiz) and from the southeast, according to the press release. Nine Chinese warships were also spotted around the island.
The Adiz, not to be confused with the airspace of a country, encompasses a much wider area in which any foreign aircraft is supposed to announce itself to local air authorities. The Adiz of Taiwan partly overlaps that of China and even includes a portion of the continent.
Last week, Taipei reported a growing number of incursions by Chinese planes and warships, after Beijing said its soldiers remained “constantly on high alert” following the passage of two ships American and Canadian through the Taiwan Strait.
Silence from Beijing
According to Taiwan’s Defense Ministry, 68 planes and 10 ships of the Chinese military were detected between Wednesday morning and Thursday morning near the island. These aircraft were heading to the Western Pacific to join the Chinese aircraft carrier Shandong for training.
The Shandong is one of two operational aircraft carriers in the Chinese fleet. It was detected last Monday about 60 nautical miles (111 kilometers) southeast of the southernmost point of the island.
The Japanese Defense Ministry also announced on Wednesday that its navy had detected six ships sailing in waters located 650 kilometers south of the island of Miyakojima, which is east of Taiwan. Fighter jets and helicopters had also been spotted taking off and landing from Shandong. So far, China has not commented on these maneuvers.
A response to recent military exercises in the region
According to experts, this show of force is a response to recent military exercises in the region, such as the ongoing maneuvers in the Yellow Sea, located between the Korean Peninsula and China, in which the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea, as well as the “Super Garuda Shield”, an exercise bringing together 19 nations.
Chinese incursions into Taiwan’s air defense zone
© / afp.com/Julia Han JANICKI
“Politically, China seeks to counter the military strategy of democratic allies led by the United States,” Su Tzu-yun, an analyst at the Taiwan Institute for National Defense and Security Research, told AFP. .
The Chinese government considers the autonomous island as part of its territory which it has vowed to one day reunify, by force if necessary. Beijing has intensified its threats and political and economic pressure on Taiwan since President Tsai Ing-wen came to power in 2016, from a party advocating a formal declaration of independence for the island.
In April, Beijing conducted military exercises simulating an encirclement of the island, after a meeting between the Taiwanese president and the Speaker of the American House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy in California. Taiwan then detected 71 fighter jets in 24 hours, equaling a record deployment from December 2022.
In August 2022, the Chinese army launched gigantic military maneuvers around Taiwan after the visit to Taipei by Nancy Pelosi, then Speaker of the American House of Representatives.