China enters Taiwan's defence zone with 30 fighter jets and launches its second-largest incursion
China enters Taiwan's defence zone with 30 fighter jets and launches its second-largest incursion
Translate This News In

China has staged the second greatest intrusion into Taiwan’s air defence zone this year, with Taipei reporting 30 jets entering the area, including more than 20 fighters.

Taiwan’s defence ministry said late Monday that it has scrambled its own planes and deployed air defence missile systems to monitor the latest Chinese activities.

In recent years, Beijing has began sending huge sorties into Taiwan’s defence zone to express displeasure and to keep Taipei’s ageing fighter force under constant stress.

democratic self-government Taiwan is constantly threatened by invasion by China, which considers the island to be its territory and has pledged to seize it by force if necessary.

READ:   Fighting Coronavirus: M S Dhoni donate only Rs 1 lakh, whereas Sachin Tendulkar donates Rs 50 lakh

Last week, the US accused Beijing of inflaming tensions over the island, citing aircraft incursions as an example of “increasingly hostile rhetoric and conduct.”

Blinken’s remarks come after US President Joe Biden appeared to defy decades of US policy when, in response to a question during a visit to Japan, he implied that if Taiwan was invaded by China, Washington would defend it militarily.

However, the White House has claimed that its strategy of “strategic ambiguity” on whether or not to intervene has not altered.

The invasion on Monday was the greatest since January 23, when 39 planes entered the air defence identification zone, or ADIZ.

READ:   "Dear Ukrainian Passengers, Welcome...": Refugees Flood Into Germany

The ADIZ is not the same as Taiwan’s territorial airspace, but it covers a much larger area that overlaps with some of China’s own air defence identification zone and even encompasses sections of the mainland.

According to a flight chart released by Taiwan’s defence ministry, the planes entered the ADIZ’s southwestern corner before circling back out.

Constantly on the lookout

According to an AFP database, Taiwan logged 969 incursions by Chinese jets into the ADIZ last year, more than double the 380 recorded in 2020.

On October 4, 2021, China sent the most planes in a single day, with 56.

That month saw a total of 196 intrusions, the majority of which occurred during China’s annual national day celebrations.

READ:   Argentina defeats Ecuador to go to the Copa America semifinals, led by Messi and Martinez

Taiwan has reported 465 invasions so far in 2022, representing a nearly 50% rise over the same period last year.

The sheer volume of flights has put the air force under enormous strain, and it has been involved in a number of tragic mishaps in recent years.

According to local media, a pilot died after crashing a training plane in southern Kaohsiung on Tuesday.

It is not the first fatal crash this year; in January, one of Taiwan’s most advanced fighter jets, an F-16V, crashed into the sea.

Taiwan grounded all military aircraft in March after a pilot was killed and another went missing when their fighters clashed mid-air in the third catastrophic crash in less than six months.

READ:   Taiwan claims that in the past day, 19 Chinese fighter jets have entered airspace