China’s airborne signal to Taiwan

The dispatch of 77 warplanes, including two Xian H-6 nuclear-capable bombers, by China into Taiwan’s air defence identification zone last Friday and Saturday sent an ominous signal at a time of rapidly rising tensions in the Indo-Pacific. Timed to coincide with Beijing’s national day marking the 72nd anniversary of the foundation of the People’s Republic of China, the incursions were much more than provocative, as the US State Department labelled them. China sent another 16 aircraft across on Sunday.

The incursions were preceded by a long editorial in the Chinese Communist Party’s febrile mouthpiece, Global Times. “Sending PLA fighter jets over the island of Taiwan is a step we must take … it will be a clear declaration of China’s sovereignty over Taiwan island and create unprecedented conditions for us to further implement this sovereignty,” the editorial said. The airspace over the Taiwan island belonged to the airspace of China, it claimed: “The mainland fighter jets’ flight over Taiwan island must be backed by large-scale and overwhelming military preparedness. Let us be fully prepared that there will be a showdown in the Taiwan Straits.”

Democratic Taiwan’s 23 million people live under the constant threat of invasion by China, which views the island as its territory and has vowed to seize it one day, by force if necessary. Warlike incursions by China into Taiwan’s ADIZ happen frequently but have never been seen on such a scale on successive days. The previous largest incursion was last month, a day after Taiwan enraged Beijing by announcing it had applied to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership. As it does when such incursions occur, Taiwan responded by putting its own fighter aircraft and missile systems on alert and tracking the planes.

China’s action is destabilising, risks miscalculations and undermines regional peace and stability, the US State Department noted. While Taiwan is the target, alliances such as the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (the US, Australia, India and Japan) will need to play an increasingly significant role in deterring China from the aggression and coercion it has embarked on.