1
China sends 30 planes into Taiwan air defence zone
The US has accused China of ratcheting up tensions across the strait with ‘provocative’ incursions.
![<div class=__reading__mode__extracted__imagecaption>Taiwan says J-11 fighters were among the aircraft encroaching into its ADIZ on Monday [File: US Navy/Handout via Reuters]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/2014-08-23T120000Z_509911101_TM3EA8N1A5A01_RTRMADP_3_USA-CHINA-WARPLANE.jpg?resize=770%2C513)
China has made its second-largest incursion into Taiwan’s air defence zone this year, as Taipei signalled it planned to deepen security ties with the United States.
Taiwan’s defence ministry said that 30 Chinese military aircraft, two-thirds of them fighter jets, entered the southwestern part of its air defence identification zone (ADIZ) on Monday and that it had scrambled its own air force and deployed air defence missile systems in response.
The incursion was the biggest since January when Beijing sent 39 aircraft into the ADIZ. Earlier this month, it sent 18 warplanes into the area.
Beijing claims self-ruled Taiwan as its own and has not ruled out the use of force to take control of the island. . .
> Although the US has no formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, it is the island’s most prominent international supporter and supplier of weapons, and follows what it calls a policy of “strategic ambiguity“.
> Following the latest incursion, Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen on Tuesday said there were plans for “cooperation” between the Taiwan military and the US National Guard. . .
> Taiwanese media has previously reported that Taiwan could partner with Hawaii’s National Guard for the programme. . .
--- Last year, Taiwan recorded 969 incursions by Chinese warplanes into its ADIZ, according to an AFP news agency database, more than double the roughly 380 carried out in 2020.
--- So far in 2022, Taiwan has reported 465 incursions, a near 50 percent increase from the same period last year, AFP said.
The increasing activity is adding to pressure on Taiwan’s air force, which on Tuesday suspended flight training of new pilots after reporting its second fatal accident this year.
The defence ministry said the AT-3 jet crashed during a training mission from the southern Gangshan airbase, and the body of the 23-year-old pilot had already been found."
2
Top Gun's Maverick Risks China's Anger With Taiwan Flag on Jacket
- Tom Cruise’s character wears jacket featuring Taiwan flag
- Chinese tech giant Tencent withdrew to avoid angering Beijing
Tom Cruise isn’t simply taking on what appears to be Russian-made fighter jets in his remake of the 1986 classic “Top Gun”: He’s also angering China.
The sequel “Top Gun: Maverick” features Cruise’s character wearing a bomber jacket with the Taiwanese flag, something considered an independence symbol by authorities in Beijing, who view the island as part of its territory. The government of President Tsai Ing-wen asserts Taiwan is already a de facto independent nation in need of wider international recognition.
3
Taiwan scrambles jets after China makes largest incursion into air defence zone since January
China has almost doubled its incursions this year, as it attempts to keep island under pressure
China has made the second largest incursion into Taiwan’s air defence zone this year with Taipei reporting 30 jets entering the area, including more than 20 fighters.
Taiwan’s defence ministry said late on Monday it had scrambled its own aircraft and deployed air defence missile systems to monitor the latest Chinese activity.
In recent years, Beijing has begun sending large sorties into Taiwan’s defence zone to signal dissatisfaction, and to keep Taipei’s ageing fighter fleet regularly stressed.
Self-ruled democratic Taiwan lives under the constant threat of invasion by China, which views the island as its territory and has vowed to one day seize it, by force if necessary.
The US last week accused Beijing of raising tensions over the island, with secretary of state Antony Blinken specifically mentioning aircraft incursions as an example of “increasingly provocative rhetoric and activity”.
Blinken’s remarks came after US president Joe Biden appeared to break decades of US policy when in response to a question on a visit to Japan he said Washington would defend Taiwan militarily if it was attacked by China. . .
> The ADIZ is not the same as Taiwan’s territorial airspace but includes a far greater area that overlaps with part of China’s own air defence identification zone and even includes some of the mainland. A flight map provided by the Taiwanese defence ministry showed the planes entered the south-western corner of the ADIZ before they looping back out again. . .
So far in 2022 Taiwan has reported 465 incursions, a near 50% increase on the same period last year. The sheer number of sorties has put the air force under immense pressure, and it has suffered a string of fatal accidents in recent years.
On Tuesday local media reported that a pilot had died after crashing a trainer jet in southern Kaohsiung. It is not the first deadly crash this year – in January one of Taiwan’s most advanced fighter jets, an F-16V, plunged into the sea.
Last March, Taiwan grounded all military aircraft after a pilot was killed and another went missing when their fighters collided mid-air in the third fatal crash in less than six months."
No comments:
Post a Comment