Taiwan retaliates, tracks 32 Chinese military aircraft

BEIJING: In retaliation to China's aggressive posturing through incursions by Chinese warplanes into Taiwan's air defense identification zone after the island's president Tsai Ing-wen began to have ties with other countries, Taiwan has sent aircraft, naval ships to monitor the PLA aircraft and vessels around the country, Taiwan News reported. Thirty-Two People's Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft and 4 naval vessels were tracked around Taiwan on Friday, Taiwan News reported citing the Ministry of National Defense (MND).

One CH-4 combat reconnaissance drone that crossed the Taiwan Strait median line and circled Taiwan anticlockwise from the northeast sector of the air defence identification zone (ADIZ) to the southwest corner was among the 13 People's Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft that were tracked in ADIZ. Between 6 a.m. on Thursday (May 11) and 6 a.m. on Friday (May 12), the Ministry of National Defence (MND) monitored 32 Chinese military aircraft and four naval vessels in the vicinity of Taiwan, according to Taiwan news.

In the southwest corner of the ADIZ, a BZK-005 reconnaissance drone and a TB-001 combat reconnaissance drone also crossed the median line and flew along the southern edge of the identification zone. Additionally, two Sukhoi Su-30 jet fighters and six Chengdu J-10 fighter jets crossed the median line.

In retaliation, Taiwan also sent aircraft, and naval ships, and used land-based missiles to monitor the PLA aircraft and vessels. Beijing has encircled Taiwan with 36 naval vessels and 131 military aircraft so far this month. China has gradually increased the number of military planes and navy ships operating near Taiwan since September 2020, expanding its use of grey zone techniques, reported Taiwan News.

China, which sees Taiwan as its own territory and has not ruled out using force to bring it under its control, last month, started three days of military exercises around Taiwan after the island's president met the US House Speaker in defiance of repeated threats by Beijing. The exercises, dubbed "United Sharp Sword," have been denounced by Taiwan.

The Chinese military's Eastern Theater Command announced the drills Saturday, describing them as "a serious warning against the Taiwan separatist forces' collusion with external forces, and a necessary move to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity," CNN reported. China reacted in a similar fashion when then US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in August, launching a series of military drills that surrounded the island and firing missiles over it.

Those drills were the first time China had fired missiles over the island, and many experts saw them as representing a major escalation of China's military intimidation against Taiwan, CNN reported. Some missiles also fell into Japan's Exclusive Economic Zone near Japanese islands to the north of Taiwan, a move which heightened tensions between Beijing and Tokyo.