Almost a week after U.S. President Joe Biden vowed to respond “militarily” if China attacked Taiwan, 30 warplanes of the Chinese People Liberation Army (PLA) violated the Taiwanese air defense zone.
“Nine types of planes, including two Su-35s, enter the island’s air defence zone as part of the biggest mainland patrol in four months,” The South China Morning Post newspaper noted on Tuesday.
The latest PLA incursion mainly included Russian and Chinese-made fighter jets and aircraft equipped with electronic warfare capabilities. “The other planes were two KJ-500 early warning and control aircraft, four Y-8 electronic intelligence aircraft, one Y-8 electronic warfare aircraft, one Y-8 anti-submarine aircraft, six J-16 fighters, eight J-11 fighters, four J-10 fighters, and two Su-30 fighters,” the Hong Kong-based daily added.
In recent air incursions, the Chinese military has deployed nuclear-capable bombers to intimidate Taiwan, the tiny independent island nation Beijing considers a renegade province and seeks to annex.
Reuters reported details of the Chinese incursion:
Taiwan on Monday reported the largest incursion since January by China’s air force in its air defence zone, with the island’s defence ministry saying Taiwanese fighters scrambled to warn away 30 aircraft in the latest uptick in tensions.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.Taiwan calls China’s repeated nearby military activities “grey zone” warfare, designed to both wear out Taiwan’s forces by making them repeatedly scramble, and also to test Taiwan’s responses.The latest Chinese mission included 22 fighters, as well as electronic warfare, early warning and antisubmarine aircraft, the Taiwan ministry said. (…)Taiwan sent combat aircraft to warn away the Chinese aircraft, while missile systems were deployed to monitor them, the ministry said.It was the largest incursion since Taiwan reported 39 Chinese aircraft in its ADIZ on Jan. 23.
Monday’s incursion comes after last month’s large-scale military exercises conducted by the PLA near Taiwan. “The Chinese army sent frigates, bombers and fighter planes to the East China Sea and held multi-arms joint combat readiness patrols in the sea and airspace around Taiwan,” the German state broadcaster Deutsche Welle reported on April 15.
Following Russia’s war on Ukraine, the Taiwanese government fears a Chinese invasion of their sovereign island nation. According to Taiwan’s Ministry of Defense, Beijing could launch a “full-scale invasion” as early as 2025.
While President Biden sleepwalks from one geopolitical disaster to another, China is forging a military alliance with anti-U.S. regimes like Russia and Iran.
Last week, Chinese and Russian bombers carried out a joint drill near Japan as President Biden was addressed at a meeting of the Quad nations in Tokyo. (Quad is a U.S.-led four-nation alliance comprising Australia, Japan, and India. In 2017, the bloc was revived by President Donald Trump to address China’s growing military hostility in the region.) Both China and Russia have border disputes with Japan.
In January, China, Russia, and Iran conducted naval war games in the Indian Ocean. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a U.S.-designated terrorist group, took part in the drill.
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