Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense (MND) had reported on Friday that Chinese aircraft and naval vessels have been monitored near the island, including three planes which entered its southwestern Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ), making Taiwanese armed forces to respond.
“8 PLA aircraft and 8 PLAN vessels operating around Taiwan were detected up until 6 a.m.(UTC+8) today. 3 of the aircraft entered our southwestern ADIZ. #ROCArmedForces have monitored the situation and responded accordingly,” Taiwan’s ministry of national defence(MND) posted on X.
Since September 2020, China has been resorting more to grey zone tactics as evidenced by heightened military activity close to Taiwan, including an increased number of military aircraft and naval ships in proximity. In June alone, Chinese military aircraft were detected over 132 times near Taiwan’s airspace while naval or coast guard ships were identified more than 109 times.
This happened yesterday when from Wednesday through Thursday there was detection of 23 Chinese fighter jets beside seven warships sailing around this country. In particular, 19 out of these 23 Chinese fighters passed through the median line separating Eastern and Southwest ADIZs from where they gained entry into Taiwan’s airspace. Consequently, Taiwanese alerted their artillery positions for all navy ships plus missiles bases were at red alert.
These recent incidents are part of a larger pattern of provocations by China in recent months, with increased military activities around Taiwan such as regular air and naval incursions into Taiwan’s ADIZ. It insists upon one day reclaiming Taiwan by force if necessary, asserting its sovereignty over it since it still considers it an inalienable part of PRC territory though this claim is disputed internationally.
