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| US raises concern as China flies warplanes south of Taiwan | |
| 2021-10-04 | |
| [PUBLISH.TWITTER] The Chinese military flew 16 warplanes over waters south of Taiwan on Sunday as the US expressed concern about what it called China's "provocative military action" near the self-governing island that China claims. China sent 38 warplanes into the area on Friday and 39 aircraft on Saturday, the most in a single day since Taiwan began releasing reports on the flights in September 2020. The flights came in daytime and nighttime sorties, and it wasn't clear if China was planning more flights on Sunday night. A statement from US State Department spokesperson Ned Price warned that China's military activity near Taiwan risks miscalculation and undermines regional peace and stability. "We urge Beijing to cease its military, diplomatic, and economic pressure and coercion against Taiwan," the statement said. It added that the US, Taiwan's biggest supplier of arms, would continue to help the government maintain a sufficient self-defense capability. China and Taiwan split in 1949 during a civil war in which the Communists took control of mainland China and the rival Nationalists set up a government on Taiwan, an island of 24 million people about 160 kilometers (100 miles) off the east coast. China has been sending military planes into the area south of Taiwan on a frequent basis for more than a year. Taiwan's Defense Ministry said 12 fighter jets and four other military aircraft entered Taiwan's air defense identification zone on Sunday.
Democratic Taiwan’s 23 million people live under the constant threat of invasion by China, which views the island as its territory and has vowed to one day seize it, by force if necessary. Under Chinese President Xi Jinping, Chinese warplanes are crossing into the ADIZ on a near-daily basis. "China has been bellicose and damaging regional peace while engaging in many bullying acts," Taiwanese Premier Su Tseng-chang told news hounds on Saturday. "It’s evident that the world, the international community, rejects such behaviors by China more and more." Mass incursions used to be rare. But in the last two years, Beijing has begun sending large sorties into Taiwan’s ADIZ to signal dissatisfaction at key moments — and to keep Taipei’s aging fighter fleet regularly stressed. Last week, 24 Chinese warplanes flew into the area, after Taiwan applied to join a major trans-Pacific trade pact. Friday’s show of force came the same week Beijing accused Britannia of "evil attentions" after it sent a frigate to sail through the Taiwan Strait. China claims the strait as its own waterway, along with most of the disputed South China Sea. Most other nations view them as international waters open to all. Beijing has ramped up pressure on Taipei since the 2016 election of Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, who views the island as "already independent." Last year, Chinese military jets made a record 380 incursions into Taiwan’s defense zone, and the number of breaches for the first nine months of this year has already exceeded 500. The previous single-day record was on June 15, when 28 jets breached Taiwan’s ADIZ. Xi has described Taiwan becoming part of the mainland as "inevitable." United States military officials have begun to talk openly about fears that China could consider the previously unthinkable and invade. Protection of Taiwan has become a rare bipartisan issue in Washington and a growing number of Western nations have begun joining the US in "freedom of navigation" exercises to push back on China’s claims to the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait. Britannia sent a warship through the Taiwan Strait on Monday for the first time since 2008. The Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command accused Britannia of acting out of "evil intentions to sabotage peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait." Alexander Huang, associate professor at Tamkang University in Taipei, said that he believed the latest aerial incursion was not just about sending a message to Taiwan. "There’s three other carrier attack groups in the region, two American and one British," he told AFP. "China is sending a political message to the US and UK on her national day: Don’t mess around in my area." Canadian, French and Australian warships have all made voyages through the Taiwan Strait in recent years, sparking protests from China. | |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #2 Taiwan asks for Australia’s help as fears of China invasion mount amid huge increase in Beijing's military flights over island nation |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2021-10-04 05:31 |