Beijing’s jets buzz Taiwan’s air zone

Beijing has flown more than 30 military planes into Taiwan’s air defence zone in recent days after the US warned China’s increasingly provocative activity ‘risks miscalculation’.

Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen. Picture: AFP

Beijing has flown more than 30 military planes into Taiwan’s air defence zone in recent days after US President Joe Biden’s top diplomat warned that China’s increasingly provocative activity “risks miscalculation”.

Taiwan’s defence ministry late on Tuesday said the People’s Liberation Army’s air force had flown three planes off its southwest coast. Less than 24 hours earlier, Beijing had flown 30 military planes, including more than 20 fighter jets. That was the second highest number this year.

US senator Tammy Duckworth, a member of the Senate armed services committee, arrived in Taipei on Monday, prompting the latest volley.

A Chinese government spokeswoman said it was “very dangerous” for American politicians to meet with members of the Tsai Ing-wen administration, who Beijing describes as “Taiwan secessionists”.

Senator Duckworth’s visit was made days after she proposed the Strengthen Taiwan’s Security Act in Washington, which she said would help Taipei arm itself from “any unwarranted attack”.

“I deeply appreciate your staunch support for Taiwan,” President Tsai said after she met the Democrat senator on Tuesday.

Beijing has routinely flown military aircraft near Taiwan since it ended political engagement with Taipei after Ms Tsai was elected president in 2016.

The number of incursions increase around sensitive dates on Beijing’s political calendar and when Taiwan receives inter­national visitors, especially from the US.

China’s foreign ministry spokesman claimed Taiwan’s president did not exist when asked about Ms Tsai’s reception of the Democratic senator on Tuesday evening.

“Taiwan is a province of China, what president does it have to speak of?” spokesman Zhao Lijian said in Beijing.

“China will continue to take forceful measures to resolutely safeguard China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” he said.

Beijing claims Taiwan – a self-governed democracy of 24 million people – as its own, to be taken over by force if necessary.

The Chinese Communist Party has never ruled the island, which was briefly part of the Qing dynasty and then a Japanese colony until the end of World War II.

After Chinese nationalists lost the civil war to the communists in late 1940s, they retreated to the island. Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek and then his son ruled Taiwan as a military dictatorship until the late 1980s. Since then, it has developed into one of Asia’s most successful democracies.

Its relationship with Beijing has become increasingly strained since President Xi Jinping froze ties after Ms Tsai came to office.

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken warned last week about “Beijing’s growing coercion” in a major speech on China.

“Beijing has engaged in increasingly provocative rhetoric and activity, like flying PLA aircraft near Taiwan on an almost daily basis,” he said.

“These words and actions are deeply destabilising. They risk miscalculation and threaten the peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait.”

Days earlier, Mr Biden had said the US had a “commitment” to defend Taiwan if it was attacked by China.

Beijing erupted, saying Taiwan was an internal matter and it had a right to use military force if it deemed it necessary.

Governments across the Indo-Pacific and beyond are becoming increasingly concerned about Beijing’s intentions towards Taiwan.

Japan’s Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida, last week linked Beijing’s threats over Taiwan to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine: “We should never, ever allow a similar incident to happen in the Indo-Pacific.”

Last year, Taiwan recorded 969 incursions by Chinese warplanes into its air defence identification zone, or ADIZ, according to an AFP database – more than double the number in 2020.

Taiwan has already reported 465 incursions in 2022, a near 50% increase on the same period last year.

The surge has put Taiwan’s air force under huge pressure and lead to a string of fatal accidents in recent years.