Chinese “planes and warships” near Taiwan
Taiwan’s defense ministry on Friday condemned Beijing’s “extremely provocative” military drills.
A Chinese military aircraft flies over Pingtan Island, one of China’s mainland islands to Taiwan, in Fujian Province on Aug. 5, 2022.
AFP
Chinese “aircraft and warships” have crossed the “middle line” of the Taiwan Strait that separates the island from mainland China, Taiwan’s defense ministry said on Friday, condemning the “highly provocative” military exercises from Beijing.
Grand maneuvers
Since Thursday, China has been organizing massive maneuvers, massing air force, navy and ballistic missiles in six maritime sectors around Taiwan, following a visit to the island this week by the speaker of the US House of Representatives. Nancy Pelosi.
An unofficial border between Taiwan and mainland China, the Intermediate Line was once tacitly respected by both armies and rarely crossed by Chinese military aircraft or ships. But Chinese incursions have increased since Beijing announced in 2020 that this unofficial border would no longer exist.
The question of crossing the line is sensitive, as the Taiwan Strait is narrow – only 130 km in places – and incursions increase the risk of accidental armed conflict.
However, in recent years, Beijing has been making more incursions, mostly by warplanes, into the southwest of Taiwan’s Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ), an area far larger than the island’s territorial airspace.
Taipei reported an increase of 49 Chinese air incursions in its ADIZ on Wednesday and Thursday, including 44 beyond the midline.
AFP
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