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As part of what Taipei claims is Beijing’s ongoing harassment, Taiwan’s defense ministry reported on Wednesday that 19 Chinese air force aircraft had been detected in its air defense zone in the previous 24 hours.
Since about three years ago, Taiwan, which China considers to be its own territory, has grumbled about an increase in military exercises near the island as Beijing tries to bolster its claims to sovereignty.
China has claimed that its actions in the region are justified because it wants to protect its territorial integrity and caution the United States against “colluding” with Taiwan, despite the ire this causes in Taipei.
Despite being closer to the Chinese coast than Taiwan’s, according to a map published by the ministry, 19 J-10 fighters from Taiwan entered the island’s air defense identification zone, or ADIZ, in the southwest.
The ministry also used the standard language for its reaction to such Chinese incursions, saying that Taiwan’s forces monitored the situation and sent up its own air force planes.
However, the aircraft avoided the delicate Taiwan Strait median line, which China’s air force has been flying over almost every day since conducting war simulations close to Taiwan last August. This line had previously acted as an informal border between the two sides.
There have been no gunshots, and the Chinese planes were traveling in Taiwan’s ADIZ rather than its territorial air space.
The ADIZ is a larger region that Taiwan patrols and monitors in order to give it more time to react to any threats.
The democratically elected government of Taiwan has repeatedly offered to hold talks with China, but it has also stated that the island will defend itself in the event of an attack and that only the Taiwanese people have the right to determine their own destiny.
