Taiwan remains under constant threat of invasion by China (Representational)
Taipei:
China sent 18 warplanes, including fighter jets and bombers, into Taiwan’s air defense on Friday, the island’s government said, in the second-largest one-day incursion of the year.
Taiwan remains under constant threat of invasion by Beijing, which views the self-governing democratic island as part of its territory that will one day be withdrawn by force if necessary.
The last quarter of 2021 saw an increase in infiltration by China into Taiwan’s Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ), the biggest single-day breach on October 4 when 56 warplanes entered the area.
Taipei’s defense ministry said on Friday that 18 Chinese aircraft, including 12 J-11 and J-16 fighter jets, as well as two H-6 bombers, entered the ADIZ.
According to a database compiled by AFP, it was the second largest single-day sortie of the year, after 39 warplanes entered the field on 23 January.
The ministry said it had reconstructed its own aircraft to broadcast warnings and deployed an air defense missile system to track the jets.
Taiwan only began to regularly publish its data on air infiltration in September 2020.
October 2021 remains the busiest month on record, with 196 incursions, 149 of which were done in just four days as Beijing marked its annual national day.
China has increased pressure on Taiwan since Tsai Ing-wen was elected president in 2016, as it considers the island a sovereign nation and not part of Chinese territory.
Last year, Taiwan recorded 969 incursions into its ADIZ by Chinese warplanes – more than double the nearly 380 carried out in 2020, according to an AFP database.
The figure so far for this year has already crossed 370 till Friday.
The ADIZ is not the same as Taiwan’s territorial airspace and covers a much larger area that overlaps with China’s part of its own ADIZ.
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