Taiwan Spotted 41 Chinese Planes Circling the Island in Biggest Incursion Yet
In a major escalation of tensions, Taiwan detected over 40 Chinese military aircraft flying close to its territorial airspace over a period of several hours on Monday. This marked the largest incursion by China to date. As per reports, Taiwan’s Defence Ministry stated that numerous batches of Chinese J-16 and SU-30 fighter jets, bombers, and anti-submarine aircraft flew into the southwestern part of its air defence identification zone (ADIZ).
While such missions have become more frequent in the past year, the size of this event signals a significant uptick in China’s military posturing near Taiwan. Flights into Taiwan’s ADIZ are not uncommon, but the presence of so many warplanes together in one day has not happened before. Taiwan quickly responded by scrambling jets, issuing radio warnings and deploying air defence missile systems to monitor the situation. The incursion came just days after Taiwan conducted live-fire artillery drills simulating defence against an enemy attack on its coast.
Military experts believe China is stepping up pressure on Taiwan through such actions to reduce the island’s international participation and assert its territorial claims. Since democratic Taiwan does not recognize China’s sovereignty, Beijing views it as a breakaway province to be reunified, by force if necessary. However, Taiwan has maintained that it seeks peace with China but will robustly defend its democracy and way of life. Although the United States maintains a policy of strategic ambiguity on intervening directly, it has been sending increasing diplomatic and military signals of support for Taiwan.
