China doubles number of raids on Taiwan’s air defense zone in 2022

raids by military aircraft chinese to the air defense zone of taiwan they nearly doubled in 2022, with the use of bombers and fighters picking up as Beijing escalates its threats against the island.

taiwanof autonomous government, lives under the threat of an invasion of Chinawhose government claims that the island is part of its territory and has promised to recover it.

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Relations between the two sides have been tense under the Chinese president. Xi Jinping and brutally degraded in 2022.

The Chinese military has stepped up its incursions and launched the biggest military maneuvers in decades to protest the August visit of the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi.

China sent 1,727 aircraft to Taiwan’s ADIZ in 2022, according to an AFP database based on daily updates released by Taipei’s defense ministry.

The figure far exceeds the 960 incursions in 2021 and the 380 in 2020.

Fighter aircraft flights went from 538 in 2021 to 1,241 last year, while the incursion of nuclear-capable H6 bombers went from 60 to 101.

Last year also saw the first drone incursion, with 71 reported by the Taiwanese military after Pelosi’s visit.

Military analysts say China has used the raids to probe Taiwan’s defense, deplete its aging air force and express anger at Western support for Taipei.

“They want to show their determination, their will and put pressure on America: don’t get too close to the red lines, don’t cross the red lines”, Lee Hsi-min, former chief of the Taiwanese joint chiefs of staff, told AFP.

strategic ambiguity

Washington recognizes China diplomatically above Taiwan, but remains Taipei’s main ally.

It rejects any forced change to Taiwan’s status and is mandated by Congress to supply the island with the means required for its defense.

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Support for Taiwan is a bipartisan consensus issue in Washington, where fears are growing that China will use force against the island, especially after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Washington maintains a policy of “strategic ambiguity” with Taiwan, under which it does not clearly commit to come to its defense in case of aggression.

Such a strategy aims to make China think about the cost of an invasion, while discouraging Taiwan from formally declaring independence.

But US President Joe Biden went so far as to say that US troops would support Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion, though the White House backtracked on his comments.

China has used military aircraft to express anger at specific events.

Beijing sent 71 military aircraft on December 25 to carry out “attack drills” in response to what he called a “escalation of collusion and provocations” from Washington and Taipei.

It came shortly after Biden confirmed $10 billion in aid for Taiwan.

There were a record 440 Chinese air raids in August, the month Pelosi visited Taiwan.

pressure tactic

“The increasingly frequent departures are worrying and force the Taiwanese side to be on perpetual alert to ensure that the PLA (People’s Liberation Army) does not use them as cover for an attack on Taiwan”, Taipei-based political and military analyst J Michael Cole told AFP.

But he clarified that the increase in incursions “does not mean that (China) is ready to anticipate the use of force against Taiwan, at least not in an invasion scenario, which would require months of mobilization”.

The air defense identification zone is different from a country’s airspace, and includes a larger area where incoming aircraft must identify themselves to local air authorities.

Analysts see China’s increasing entry into Taiwan’s ADIZ as part of its tactics to keep pressure on the island.

China “is launching a war of attrition against the Taiwanese militarysaid Richard Hu, deputy director of the Center for Taiwan Studies at National Chengchi University.

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He noted that China seeks to collect information and “preparation parameters”, such as how long it takes and where the Taiwanese interceptions are coming from, but that an invasion would be a very risky and expensive thing to do.

The island’s mountainous terrain would be a challenge for any armed force.

“To take Taiwan by force, the PLA still faces several vital challenges, such as sending hundreds of thousands of troops across the Taiwan Strait.said Hu, a retired Taiwanese major general.

Source: Elcomercio

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I am Jack Morton and I work in 24 News Recorder. I mostly cover world news and I have also authored 24 news recorder. I find this work highly interesting and it allows me to keep up with current events happening around the world.