By Oyintari Ben
China increased efforts to legitimize aggressive military operations around the autonomous island on Sunday by sending 47 aircrafts across the Taiwan Strait, its largest incursion into Taiwan’s air defence zone in recent months.
According to the Taiwanese defence ministry, the incursions were carried out by 42 J-10, J-11, J-16, and Su-30 fighter planes, two Y-8 maritime patrol aircraft’s, a KJ-500 early warning aircraft, a CH-4, and a WZ-7 military drone.
It further stated that 71 Chinese aircrafts had been observed flying over the island and that Taiwan’s military had dispatched combat air patrol planes, navy ships, and land-based missile systems in response.
The flights, which the Chinese military refers to as an “attack drill,” come after naval drills by a Chinese aircraft carrier group in the Western Pacific close to Japan on Friday.
Taiwan, a democratically governed island with a population of 24 million, is considered to be part of China’s territory even though it has never been under Chinese authority. It has long pledged to use force if necessary to “reunify” the island with the Chinese mainland.
This year, there has been a noticeable rise in tensions surrounding Taiwan. Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the US House, visited the island in August, which incited the Communist Party’s wrath and a flurry of military drills immediately.
Since then, Beijing has escalated its military pressure campaign on the island, deploying fighter jets into the island’s air defence identification zone, or ADIZ, a buffer zone of airspace that separates Taiwan from China, across the Taiwan Strait’s median line.
In reaction to “provocations” between Taiwan and the United States, the Chinese military’s Eastern Theatre Command claimed it conducted joint combat readiness patrol and “strike drills” outside Taiwan on Sunday. However, it did not provide any other information.
According to a statement from the Eastern Theatre Command, “the military will take all necessary steps to fiercely protect national sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
In a statement issued late Sunday night, the Taiwanese defence ministry reacted by expressing confidence in its ability to defend its sovereignty. It claimed that the Chinese Communist Party’s actions “highlighted its mentality of resorting to military force to resolve conflicts, which affects regional peace and stability.”
