China sends 68 warplanes and 10 Navy vessels around Taiwan in 24 hours weeks after the
China has flown 68 warplanes and deployed 10 navy vessels around Taiwan in a day’s span – just weeks after the US announced its first-ever transfer of military equipment to the island.
The move is the latest in military demonstrations between China, Taiwan and the US.
The 68 plane total came a day after Taipei said 35 Chinese warplanes were detected around the self-ruled island, with some then flying to join China’s Shandong aircraft carrier for naval drills in the Western Pacific.
Communist China claims self-ruled Taiwan as part of its territory and relations have soured since Taiwan’s independence. When Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen came to power in 2016, Beijing ratcheted up military and political pressure on the island.
The US has been a long backer of Taiwan, including Nancy Pelosi making a visit to the island in 2022. Last month, President Joe Biden‘s administration announced an $80million transfer of military hardware to Taiwan.
Taiwan said Thursday China had flown 68 warplanes and deployed 10 navy vessels into areas around the island in one day
The State Department informed Congress of the $80 million package, which is small compared with recent sales to Taiwan but marks the first assistance to Taipei under the Foreign Military Financing program, which generally involves grants or loans to sovereign countries.
The State Department did not formally announce the aid or give details, but a person familiar with the notice said the assistance would involve support to improve awareness at sea.
Taiwan’s defense ministry said beginning at around 6 a.m. local time, Chinese warplanes, including J-10 fighters, had flown into the southwestern corner of the island’s air defense identification zone, or ADIZ.
‘This year, the Chinese Communist Party has aggressively expanded its armaments and continued to build various types of fighter jets and drones,’ Taiwanese Major General Huang Wen-Chi said in a statement.
Some of the Chinese aircraft crossed the Bashi Channel to carry out drills with the Chinese aircraft carrier the Shandong in the Pacific, the ministry added.
Japan’s defense ministry also said Wednesday its navy had detected six ships – including frigates, destroyers, one fast combat support ship and the Shandong – sailing through waters some 400 miles south of Miyakojima island, east of Taiwan.
Japan sent a destroyer to monitor the Chinese ships and confirmed that jet fighters and helicopters aboard the Shandong conducted landing training, the ministry added.
China’s defense ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Taiwan’s forces monitored the situation, including sending up its own air force planes and activating air defense systems, the ministry added, using the normal phrasing for its response to such Chinese incursions.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy greeted Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen at the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California, in April despite warnings from China not to go forward with the meeting
Communist China claims self-ruled Taiwan as part of its territory and relations have soured since Taiwan’s independence
Democratically-governed Taiwan, which China views as its own territory, has complained in recent years of stepped-up Chinese military activities near the island as Beijing seeks to assert its sovereignty claims
A Chinese naval formation led by the Shandong entered the western Pacific for training, Taiwan’s defense ministry said on Monday.
Separately, more than 20 Chinese warships, including Type 055 destroyers, sailed through the Bashi Channel and Miyako Strait into the Pacific on Wednesday, a senior official familiar with security planning in the region told Reuters.
The Chinese naval maneuver, along with the training exercises by the carrier group, were an ‘obvious challenge’ to the recent military activities by the United States and its allies in the region, the person said.
‘They want to show that they got the total control of the west of the first island chain,’ the person said, referring to the area which runs from Japan through Taiwan, the Philippines and on to Borneo, enclosing China’s coastal seas.
A US and a Canadian warship sailed through the Taiwan Strait on Saturday, the U.S. Navy said, marking the second such joint mission since June and coinciding with the leaders of both countries attending the G20 summit in India.
The two countries’ navies also conducted a series of exercises in the South China Sea this week, according to the US Navy.
China has been increasing its military operations around Taiwan over the past few years in response to what it calls ‘collusion’ between Taiwan independence forces and the US.
For five decades, the United States has officially recognized only Beijing although Congress, under the Taiwan Relations Act, requires the supply of weapons to the self-governing democracy for its defense.
The State Department insisted that the first-ever aid under the program did not imply any recognition of Taiwan sovereignty.
Then-Speaker of the U.S. House Of Representatives Nancy Pelosi (pictured center) visited Taiwan in August 2022, the first speaker to do so in 25 years
President Joe Biden ‘s administration for the first approved direct US military aid to Taiwan under an assistance program aimed at foreign government in late August
View over Xiamen City in Fujian province from Dadan Island’s beach in Taiwan
‘Consistent with the Taiwan Relations Act and our longstanding One China policy, which has not changed, the United States makes available to Taiwan defense articles and services necessary to enable it to maintain a sufficient self-defense capability,’ a State Department spokesperson said.
‘The United States has an abiding interest in peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, which is critical to regional and global security and prosperity.’
Taiwan’s defense ministry expressed gratitude. ‘The aid will help in regional peace and stability,’ it said in a short statement.
China’s defense ministry, asked about the aid at a regular briefing, warned that US military aid to Taiwan would harm the island.
‘US military aid and sales to Taiwan only nourish the US military-industrial complex while harming the security and well-being of Taiwan compatriots,’ spokesperson Wu Qian told a briefing.
‘In this regard, the People’s Liberation Army will, as always, take all necessary measures to resolutely counter it,’ he added, referring to the Chinese military by its official name.
Kevin McCarthy greeted Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen in his home state of California in April amid rising threats from China warning the two leaders against bilateral talks.
The House Speaker led a bipartisan group of lawmakers to meet with Tsai and her delegation as they wrap up a highly controversial and closely-watched tour through Central and North America.
Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi visited in August of 2022, becoming the first speaker to do so since 1997.