29 Chinese fighter jets penetrate Taiwan's airspace - Japan observes warships on an unusual route

Created: 06/21/2022, 17:55

By: Christiane Kuehl

Not in my airspace: A Taiwanese F-16 fighter jet tries to oust a Chinese H-6 bomber (above) (archive image) © HANDOUT/ Taiwan's Defense Ministry / AFP

Tensions in the sea off China's east coast are increasing.

This week, China sent fighter jets near Taiwan and ships into waters near Japan.

Taipei/Munich - Taiwan blew up its own fighter jets on Tuesday to oust 29 Chinese fighter jets.

According to the Ministry of Defense in Taipei, these had penetrated the Taiwanese air defense zone (Air Defense Identification Zone / ADIZ).

17 fighter-bombers and six H-6 bombers and special aircraft, including one for air refueling, were flying over the sea south of Taiwan.

The Air Force radioed warnings to Chinese planes from Taipei and monitored their activities with anti-aircraft missile systems.

Incidents like this have been piling up for two years - and continue to increase.

Around 500 Chinese fighter jets have penetrated Taiwan's air defense zone since the beginning of the year.

On Tuesday there were as many in one day as last May 30, when China sent 30 planes.

An ADIZ is not the airspace over national territory and territorial waters of a country.

Rather, it designates an airspace surveillance zone in which crossing aircraft must identify themselves and regularly announce their coordinates.

States use the ADIZ as a kind of buffer zone, which is not protected as sovereign territory under international law.

China has been exploiting this circumstance for a long time to repeatedly send planes to Taiwan's ADIZ without prior notification - declared as purely routine flights.

China sees Taiwan as a breakaway province and has never ruled out a violent conquest of the democratically governed island.

There are fears that China could use Russia's war of aggression in Ukraine as a blueprint for an invasion of Taiwan.

Japan also concerned about activities by China and Russia

But not only Taiwan is observing increased military activities by China.

Japan is also on guard.

On Monday, Japan sighted three Chinese warships navigating an unusual route southeast of Japan's Chiba Prefecture, just days after ironically seven Russian ships transited nearby waters, according to Japanese news agency Kyodo.

Most recently, in October 2021, ten Russian and Chinese ships circumnavigated Japan together.

In May, Japan – like Taiwan now – sent fighter jets into the air to drive Chinese and Russian bombers out of waters near the island state.

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At the time, analysts saw the action as a protest by China and Russia against a summit of the Quad Alliance (Japan, USA, India, Australia) in Tokyo, to which US President Joe Biden, among others, had traveled to Japan.

Tensions between China and Japan have escalated over the past year -- not least as Tokyo has increased its public support for Taiwan.

China and Japan: disputes over islands and history

Tokyo and Beijing have also been arguing for years about an uninhabited group of islands strategically located in the sea between the two countries: Japan administers the islands and calls them Senkaku;

the Chinese name is Diaoyu.

Tokyo recently protested China's exploration of a possible gas field.

In early June, China's top diplomat Yang Jiechi said in a phone call with Japan's national security chief Takeo Akiba that old problems in the relationship are now intertwined with new ones, according to the Hong Kong newspaper

reported.

Yang therefore demanded that both nations "go in the right direction".

During World War II, Japan conquered large parts of China and ruled it with draconian methods.

Relations between the two countries have been strained since then, despite close economic ties.

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Taiwan, in turn, has described China's repeated military activities in its vicinity as a "grey zone" war, according to Reuters.

The actions were aimed at repeatedly stirring up and wearing down the Taiwanese armed forces.

China also wants to test Taiwan's reactions.

The island's military therefore repeatedly sends out its own planes to demonstrate its ability to defend itself.

There have not been any incidents so far.

Not even on Tuesday.