From friday to monday as china
celebrated the 72nd anniversary of the
founding of the people's republic, the
people's liberation army sent 148
warplanes into taiwan's air defense
identification zone, shattering previous
daily records three times in a row and
requiring taiwan to scramble jets and
issue warnings.
On monday alone 56 aircraft including 38 J-16 fighter jets and a dozen H-6
bombers made sorties into the taiwan
monitored zone, starting early in the
morning and finishing late at night. In some instances their flight paths
passed taiwan's southern tip and then
moved north up the island's east coast, before returning to base, according to
data released by taiwan's defense
ministry.
Defense analysts noted that the mission
stopped short of taiwan's airspace and
may primarily be a way for china to
boost nationalism at home while
signaling rizal. But the dramatic scale
of the sorties is itself dangerous and
piles pressure on taiwan's air force as
well as u.s efforts to strengthen the
island's defenses. Simply put it's flying a bunch of
military aircraft around a country that
you threaten to invade.
Said Gerald C Brown a defense analyst in washington
who tracks chinese air force sorties
near taiwan, this isn't something that will stir a
major military response. It's gray zone
warfare where signaling is the biggest
component but there is also a lot of
wear and tear on taiwan's air force.
Beijing's displays of military strength
place taiwan at the center of efforts by
the united states and its allies to
counter chinese aggression. The united states and australia joined
taiwan to condemn the escalation drawing
an angry rebuttal from china. While china
has not given an official explanation
for the escalating number of jets being
flown near taiwan the state-run china
media group has justified the missions
as a necessary countermeasure to what it
called collusion between the united
states and taiwan.
The drills also come as china faces a
challenge from the new three-way defense
pact known as a UK US in which the
united states and britain will share
nuclear submarine technology with
australia. Recent joint exercises between british
and u.s strike groups alongside japanese
defensive forces have also drawn
beijing's ire. Over the last year china's air force has
repeatedly sent planes deeper into
taiwan's air defense identification zone. Occasionally crossing the median line of
the taiwan strait and unofficial
maritime border.
Faced with incursions taiwan's defense
ministry began releasing regular reports
of these sorties last year. By flying around the southern tip of
taiwan to the southeast coast the
chinese air force is also demonstrating
an ability to attack from the east, requiring adjustments to the island's
defenses, said Ling Yoo Lin an assistant
professor of asia pacific affairs at
national Sun Yat-Sen University in Taiwan.
Previously it was just fighters but now
it is a mixture of fighters bombers and
y minus eights with electronic
interference equipment as well as the KJ-500 early warning aircraft which
together make an attack team, he said.
After a lull on tuesday when china sent
only a single Y-8 transport aircraft to
near taiwan airspace analysts expect
that beijing may mount another bout of
large-scale drills to coincide with
taiwan's national day celebrations on
sunday. Despite never ruling taiwan the chinese
communist party has claimed the island
since the nationalist kuomintang fled to
taiwan in 1949, plunging the chinese
civil war into a stalemate.
Beijing continues to threaten taiwan's
democratically elected government with a
military takeover if it ever formally
declares independence. While never abandoning a policy of
peaceful unification with taiwan chinese President Xi Jinping has spoken of the
inevitability of taiwan's return and
said that the issue cannot be passed on
from generation to generation forever. He has also urged the people's
liberation army toward its goal of being
a modern fighting force on par with the
united states.
