No shots have been fired and the Chinese aircraft have not been flying in Taiwan’s air space, but in its Air Defense Identification Zone, a broader area Taiwan monitors and patrols that acts to give it more time to respond to any threats.
Taiwanese fighters were sent up to warn the Chinese aircraft and air defense missiles were deployed to “monitor the activities,” the ministry said, using standard wording for how Taiwan describes its response. Twenty-one Chinese military planes had also entered this airspace the day before, the day when the American speaker of the House of Representatives was in Taiwan. Chinas announcement of a new air defense zone in the East China Sea is a. These aircraft 'entered the surrounding area (Air Defense Identification Zone, wider than airspace, editors note) on August 3, 2022,' said the Taiwanese Ministry of Defense. ADIZ (with Canada), Alaska ADIZ, Guam ADIZ, and Hawaii ADIZ. is different from territorial airspace or no-fly zones. The United States established the first ADIZ (in conjunction with Canada) in 1950 and currently maintains four such zones: Contiguous U.S. Taiwan’s announcement comes as China sent a record number of aircraft into the self-governing island’s air defense identification zone, with 39 aircraft entering the zone on Oct. The other aircraft flew over an area to the northeast of the Taiwan-controlled Pratas Islands at the top end of the South China Sea, according to a ministry map. in international airspace adja- cent to their coasts. China has made the second largest incursion into Taiwan’s air defense zone this year with Taipei reporting 30 jets entering the area, including more than 20 fighters. The bombers, accompanied by a Y-8 anti-submarine aircraft, flew to the south of Taiwan through the Bashi Channel which separates the island from the Philippines. There was no immediate comment from China’s Defense Ministry.Ĭhina has described previous such missions as to defend the country’s sovereignty and to counter “collusion” with foreign forces - a veiled reference to US support for Taiwan. The ministry said the latest mission included six Chinese J-11 and six J-16 fighters as well as two H-6 bombers. The number of aircraft involved was well off the last large-scale incursion, 39 Chinese aircraft on January 23, and since then, such fly-bys have been with far fewer aircraft. The Chinese planes flew near the Pratas Island, an atoll in the South China Sea, located southwest of Taiwan and near the Chinese provinces of Fujian and Guangdong, according to a map of their flight paths shared by Taiwan’s defense ministry. The ADIZ is not the same as Taiwan's territorial airspace but includes a far greater area that overlaps with part of China's own air defense identification zone and even includes some of the mainland.Ī flight map provided by the Taiwanese defense ministry showed the planes entered the southwestern corner of the ADIZ before they looping back out again.Taiwan is currently in a heighten state of alert due to fears China could use Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to make a similar military move on the island, though Taipei’s government has not reported any signs Beijing is about to attack. Taiwan issued radio warnings and deployed its air defense missile systems in response.
Monday's incursion was the largest since January 23, when 39 planes entered the air defense identification zone, or ADIZ. China’s military sent 19 aircraft into Taiwan’s air defence identification zone on Sunday, including several nuclear-capable bombers, on the eve of Taipei’s annual war games exercises. The United States last week accused Beijing of raising tensions over the island, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken specifically mentioning aircraft incursions as an example of "increasingly provocative rhetoric and activity".īlinken's remarks came after US President Joe Biden appeared to break decades of US policy when in response to a question on a visit to Japan he said Washington would defend Taiwan militarily if it is attacked by China.īut the White House has since insisted its policy of "strategic ambiguity" over whether or not it would intervene has not changed. Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory, has complained for the past two years or so of repeated missions by China’s air force near the democratically governed island, often in the southwestern part of its air defence identification zone, or ADIZ, close to the Taiwan-controlled Pratas Islands.
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