China sent 39 warplanes into Taiwan's air defense zone on Sunday, the second-largest incursion by Chinese aircraft on record, the Taiwanese government announced on Monday (January 24th), amid growing military pressure from Beijing.
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Taiwan lives under the constant threat of an invasion by China, which considers this island having its own government as part of its territory which it wants to recover, by force if necessary. The last quarter of 2021 saw a spike in such incursions, with October remaining the busiest with 196, including 149 in just four days, as China celebrated its National Day. On October 4 alone, 56 Chinese aircraft had entered Taiwan's Air Defense Identification Zone (Adiz).
Taiwan's Defense Ministry said in a statement on Sunday evening that it had its planes take off to follow the 39 Chinese aircraft that entered the Adiz, the second largest incursion, tied with that of October 2, and activated its anti-aircraft missile systems.
Among the Chinese planes were 24 J-16 fighters (the ones Beijing uses most to test Taiwan's air defense, experts say), 10 J-10 fighters and a nuclear-capable H-6 bomber.
The reasons for such a large incursion remained unexplained for the moment.
Nearly 1,000 incursions in 2021
Thirteen Chinese planes also entered the Adiz on Monday. Among them were eight J-16 fighters and two J-16D planes, a model presented last year at an air show that is capable of neutralizing various radar and communications systems, according to specialized websites. This increase in the number of incursions comes on the heels of naval maneuvers between the United States and Japan in the Philippine Sea, which includes waters east of Taiwan. Ten US ships, including the aircraft carriers USS Carl Vinson and USS Abraham Lincoln, participated in exercises with Japan from January 17-22 aimed at mounting “
effective deterrence and response
,” the Navy tweeted on Monday. Japanese.
The Taiwanese Ministry of Defense began publicizing these incursions by Chinese warplanes into the Adiz in September 2020 and AFP has compiled a database of details of these flights, the size and frequency of which have increases.
The defense zone does not correspond to Taiwan's airspace, but encompasses a much larger area that overlaps with part of China's air defense identification zone.
Taiwan recorded 969 incursions by Chinese warplanes into its air defense zone in 2021, according to the database compiled by AFP, more than double the roughly 380 made in 2020.
Beijing has increased its pressure on Taipei since the 2016 election as Taiwan president of Tsai Ing-wen, who considers the island to be a sovereign nation and not part of China.
Taiwan's air force has suffered a string of fatal accidents in recent years, with its aging fleet kept under pressure by China.
The Air Force temporarily grounded its fleet of US F-16 fighters earlier this month after one of its F-16Vs, its most advanced fighter jets, crashed into the sea in during a training mission, resulting in the death of a pilot.