China flies warplanes near Taiwan in show of force, prompting US warning

Hours after the US issued statement calling on China to cease intimidation, Taipei reports Beijing sent more flights.

A Chinese H-6K bomber patrols the islands and reefs in the South China Sea. Picture: Liu Rui/Xinhua via AP, File

Chinese warplanes flew more than two dozen sorties near Taiwan over the weekend, as Beijing staged its largest show of aerial force toward the island democracy in four months, just days after President Biden took over the White House.

Flown over two days off southwestern Taiwan, the flights appear to deliver a warning to the Biden administration of the stakes involved in supporting the self-ruled island that Beijing claims as its territory and has vowed to assimilate. Hours after the U.S. issued a statement Saturday evening in Washington calling on China to cease intimidation, Taipei reported that Beijing sent more flights on Sunday.

The Chinese military flights coincided with U.S. naval manoeuvres in the nearby South China Sea, which an American aircraft-carrier strike group entered on Saturday to conduct security operations and combat drills.

China sent strategic bombers, jet fighters and a turboprop on 13 sorties into Taiwan’s southwestern air-defence identification zone on Saturday and followed up with 15 fighter and turboprop sorties into roughly the same area the next day, according to Taiwan’s Defense Ministry. On both days, the Taiwanese military responded by deploying aircraft, issuing radio warnings and tracking the Chinese planes with air-defence missile systems, the ministry said.

Earlier in the week, Mr. Biden’s nominee for secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said Washington would continue to ensure Taiwan could defend itself, as required by a U.S. law governing unofficial relations with the island, while Taiwan’s de facto envoy attended Mr. Biden’s inauguration after a formal invitation. Beijing regards U.S. interactions with the island as one of the most sensitive issues in bilateral relations with Washington.

New President Joe Biden. Picture: Nicholas Kamm/AFP

The weekend sorties marked the largest Chinese aerial manoeuvres near Taiwan since mid-September, when Beijing sent warplanes on 37 sorties near the island over two days during a senior U.S. State Department official’s visit to Taipei.

China’s military has made a routine out of sending warplanes into Taiwan’s southwestern air-defence identification zone over recent months, including near-daily flights over some periods, though on many days these manoeuvres featured only one or two turboprop aircraft.

The Chinese Embassy in Washington didn’t immediately respond to queries. Hours after the Saturday sorties, U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price voiced concern over what it called continuing Chinese attempts “to intimidate its neighbours, including Taiwan,” and said Washington will deepen ties with Taipei and continue to help it maintain “a sufficient self-defence capability.” “We urge Beijing to cease its military, diplomatic, and economic pressure against Taiwan and instead engage in meaningful dialogue with Taiwan’s democratically elected representatives,” Mr. Price said in a statement. “Our commitment to Taiwan is rock-solid and contributes to the maintenance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and within the region.” In a separate statement on Saturday, the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said a naval strike group led by the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt has entered the South China Sea to conduct routine maritime-security operations and training exercises.

The statement didn’t refer to Taiwan, though the strike group’s commander, Rear Adm. Doug Verissimo, was quoted as saying that his forces are “promoting freedom of the seas and reassuring allies and partners.”

Wall Street Journal