Taipei: China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has breached Taiwan’s Air defense identification zone (ADIZ) more than 60 times in the month of September.
Chinese social media giant Weibo reported that as far as getting inside Taiwan’s Air defense identification zone is considered, not only the number of flights by PLA has increased, but also the actual combat effectiveness of aircraft and number of flight missions have also increased a lot.
However, the number of verbal warnings issued by Taiwan’s Air defense to PLA for cross-line flights has reached more than 60 times in the month of September, reported Weibo Military observer.
Since mid-September of last year, Beijing has stepped up its grey-zone tactics by regularly sending planes into Taiwan’s ADIZ, with most instances occurring in the southwest corner of the zone and usually consisting of one to three slow-flying turboprop planes.
It is to be noted that there are only two days – September 2 and September 18 – in the following month in which PLA has made no violations. However, on September 8 and 19, the intrusion was high-density.
Beijing claims full sovereignty over Taiwan, a democracy of almost 24 million people located off the southeastern coast of mainland China, despite the fact that the two sides have been governed separately for more than seven decades.
Taipei, on the other hand, has countered the Chinese aggression by increasing strategic ties with democracies including the US, which has been repeatedly opposed by Beijing. China has threatened that “Taiwan’s independence” means war.