Of the more than 70 military aircraft that the People’s Army used in the maneuvers, according to Taiwan, 47 penetrated the island’s air surveillance zone (ADIZ), the Defense Ministry in Taipei reported on Monday.
Among the fighter jets were six Russian Sukhoi SU-30 fighter jets. The multi-role combat aircraft are among the most modern in the Chinese Air Force. According to Taipei sources, most of the planes crossed the “center line,” which runs along the Taiwan Strait (Formosa Strait) separating Taiwan and China.
“Combat Readiness and Attack Drills”
The People’s Liberation Army of China said Sunday it had “organized joint combat readiness patrols and offensive drills on the water and in the air around the island of Taiwan.” It is a “robust response to increasing collusion and provocation by the US and Taiwanese authorities.”
The Chinese army released photos of a bomber, a warship and an aerial photo taken from a cockpit showing a mountain range in Taiwan. This image was obviously intended to emphasize how close the plane came to the Taiwan coast. China’s foreign ministry had earlier on Saturday announced its “strong rejection” of military aid for Taiwan in the amount of ten billion dollars (around 9.4 billion euros), which also includes arms deliveries, agreed in Washington.
Tensions have increased significantly since the summer
Tensions between China, Taiwan and the US have been rising for months. The last major reason was the visit to Taiwan in August by high-ranking Democratic US politician Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives in Washington.
Beijing saw Pelosi’s visit as interference in its internal affairs and had threatened consequences beforehand. After their departure, China began military maneuvers, reaching as far as 20 kilometers from the Taiwanese coast. They were the largest ever in the waters around the island.
The scenario was similar to last. During the maneuvers, fighter jets and warships also crossed the “central line” in the Taiwan Strait, which connects the East and South China Seas and is one of the busiest cargo routes in the region. Since the split between China and Taiwan in 1949, Beijing has viewed the island as a breakaway territory that it wants to reunite with the mainland – if necessary by military force. China significantly increased military, diplomatic and economic pressure on the island nation.
“Vicious Neighbor”
Taiwan’s Prime Minister Su Tseng-chang sharply condemned the maneuvers at the time. The Taipei government did not expect “that the spiteful neighbor would hold a show of force on our doorstep and arbitrarily jeopardize the world’s busiest sea routes with military exercises,” Su said.
Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen called the Chinese maneuvers around the island republic “irresponsible”. The Taiwanese Ministry of Defense described the exercises as a “highly provocative act”. The center line of the Taiwan Straits is an unofficial but widely observed boundary in the middle of the strait that separates China and Taiwan.
Fighter jets and warships had long rarely violated this line, but since 2020 Chinese border crossings have become more frequent, particularly with fighter jets penetrating Taiwan’s air defense zone. This is not synonymous with Taiwanese airspace and partially overlaps with the Chinese Defense Zone. Beijing once declared that it was no longer bound by the line.
