Tensions increased further on Saturday when eight Chinese warplanes flew over the Taiwan Strait’s median line and came quite close to the island’s contiguous zone, which is 24 nautical miles (44 km) off the shore.
Over the past three years, China’s air force has frequently entered the airspace over Taiwan. It has been regularly sending jets across the strait’s median line since August; the line has previously operated as an informal border.
Taiwan, which is democratically run, is considered Chinese territory by Beijing. The island’s people alone, according to the Taiwanese government, have the power to determine the future of the country. Taiwan’s defence minister, Chiu Kuo-cheng, issued a warning in March that the island needed to be on high alert this year in case the Chinese military made a ‘sudden entry’ into territory near its borders.
The contiguous zone, as defined by Taiwan, extends 24 nautical miles inland. Taiwan’s territorial air space is 12 nautical miles from its coast, but the government has not received any reports of Chinese aircraft flying into Taiwan’s contiguous zone or its own airspace.
In a statement, Taiwan’s defence ministry claimed that beginning about 8 a.m. (0000 GMT) on Saturday, it had spotted 19 Chinese aircraft, including fighter jets J-10 and J-16. According to the report, eight of those crossed the median and ‘got close’ to the 24 nautical mile mark.
The ministry reported that five Chinese warships conducted what it called “joint combat readiness patrols” at the same time.
Using customary language for how its forces respond to Chinese invasions, the ministry claimed that Taiwan sent up its own planes, despatched ships, and activated land-based missile systems in retaliation. Calls to the Chinese defence ministry for comment went unanswered.
The Eastern Theatre Command of the Chinese military, which oversees Taiwan, tweeted images of J-16 jets taking off on a training operation ‘far out at sea’ that took place ‘recently’ on its WeChat account on Saturday.
The aircraft engaged in ‘tactical long-range flight training,’ according to the command, which involved in-flight refuelling over ‘thousands of kilometres.’ It gave no specifics.
Videos of the exercise, which took place during China’s most recent large-scale war exercises near Taiwan in April, showed the country’s ships and aircraft approaching Taiwan from all directions within 24 nautical miles of the island.
U.S. military operations frequently take place in the Taiwan Strait, which separates the island from its enormous neighbour China. In particular, American warships pass through the sensitive strait once a month.
A Chinese warship crossed in front of a U.S. destroyer in what the U.S. Navy described as a ‘unsafe interaction’ in the strait and was captured on camera this month.
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