China has sent 71 warplanes, including dozens of fighter jets, to military exercises around Taiwan, Taipei’s Ministry of Defense said on Monday.
Beijing said these maneuvers are a “firm response” to the US announcement of support for the island in defense matters.
Taiwanese authorities point to one of the biggest daily incursions by Chinese military planes so far.
Between 6 am on Sunday and 6 am on Monday, 47 of the Chinese planes crossed the island’s Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) along the Taiwan Strait.
Taipei said it had monitored the Chinese maneuvers and denounced that the unofficial border in the Taiwan Strait was crossed by China.
According to Taiwan’s Ministry of Defense, the military exercises involved 18 J-16 fighters, 11 J-1 fighters, six Su-30 fighters and drones. At sea, there were also several warships of the Chinese navy.
China justified the carrying out of these “attack exercises” at sea and in the airspace around Taiwan, in the last 24 hours, as a response to what it considers to be a provocation of US support for the island’s autonomy.
Washington has authorized a US$10 billion investment in aid and arms sales to Taiwan.
Taiwan is an island territory self-governed by a democratic government, located east of China. Beijing does not recognize independence and has intensified military harassment in recent years, with the Communist Party’s People’s Liberation Army sending planes or ships to the island’s surroundings almost daily.
Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen reiterated the need for Taiwan to increase its defense capacity due to the “continuous expansion of authoritarianism”, although she made no mention of the latest military activity, according to the British newspaper The Guardian.
Beijing considers that visits by foreign governments to Taiwan are provocative gestures to China’s claim to sovereignty and correspond to recognition of the island as an independent territory. After US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi‘s visit to Taiwan in August, China conducted live-fire military exercises off the island.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping has already made it clear that Taiwan’s “reunification” cannot be dragged down to future generations.
The military flights are seen as a way to probe Taipei’s defensive responses.
With information from Agência Brasil/Agência RTP