Beijing deploys 71 jets in major military exercises

First modification: 26/12/2022 – 12:43

In a daily update posted on Twitter by the defense ministry, Taiwan said 47 of the flights passed through the island’s air identification defense zone (ADIZ), the third-highest number on record, according to a database. AFP data.

He specified that six SU-30 aircraft participated in the exercise, one of the most advanced that China has.

The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) said it conducted an “attack exercise” on Sunday in response to “provocations” that it did not detail as “collusion” between the United States and Taiwan.

Taiwan lives under a constant threat of invasion from China, which considers the self-governing island part of its territory and has vowed to retake it.

Beijing has intensified its military, diplomatic and economic pressure on Taiwan under President Xi Jinping, and relations between the two sides have deteriorated.

One of the pressure tactics that China is using with increasing frequency is bypassing Taiwan’s ADIZ.

So far this year there have been 1,700 sorties on the Taiwanese ADIZ by Chinese military aircraft, compared to 969 in 2021 and 146 in 2020.

China did not specify the number of planes participating in Sunday’s maneuvers or their location.

Rising tensions

The Taiwanese tally indicates that most of the planes crossed the “median line” of the Taiwan Strait that separates the two sides.

Taiwan’s ADIZ, which is larger than its airspace, overlaps in some parts with China’s.

The PLA said Sunday’s exercises were “a firm response to increasing collusion and provocations by the US and Taiwanese authorities.”

Beijing has rejected President Joe Biden’s Taiwan policy, especially after he said Washington would defend the island if it came under attack from China.

The prospect of a Chinese invasion has made Western countries and many of China’s neighbors nervous.

Xi, China’s most authoritarian ruler in decades, has insisted that Taiwan’s so-called “reunification” cannot be left to future generations.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine also raised fears that China might try something similar with Taiwan.

The United States has increased its support for Taiwan, and its Congress recently approved $10 billion in military assistance for Taipei, in the face of “firm opposition” from Beijing.

Tensions reached their height in August when US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the island, prompting the PLA to hold a huge military exercise around the island.

As part of its actions against Taiwan, China stepped up the use of its nuclear-capable H-6 bombers in raids on the ADIZ.

In an operation this month, China sent 18 H-6s southwest of the ADIZ, in the largest daily raid to date.

(With AFP)