China air patrols around Taiwan intensify after military drills

Dozens of Chinese warplanes flew within striking range of Taiwan, with some continuing into the western Pacific, in an intense military incursion.

Chinese planes under the Eastern Theatre Command of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) during a combat readiness patrol. Picture: Eastern Theatre Command/Handout via Reuters.

Dozens of Chinese warplanes flew within striking range of Taiwan on Wednesday in one of the most intense military incursions in recent weeks.

According to Taiwan’s ministry of defence, 37 Chinese military aircraft entered the island’s self-declared air defence identification zone (Adiz). The ministry’s spokesman, Sun Li-fang, said that some of them continued into the western Pacific after skirting Taiwan.

Sovereign air space extends for 12 miles (19.2km) around a territory, but an Adiz is a much wider area in which some countries demand identification from incoming aircraft in the interests of national security.

China claims Taiwan as part of its territory, rejects the right of the self-ruling island to make such requests and regularly sends aircraft through it. Although this was not the largest number of incursions this year – there were 45 sorties on April 9 – it was compressed into just six hours, an unusually short period of time.

The latest incursion does not indicate an imminent attack, but it places a new burden on the Taiwanese armed forces, which are obliged to commit resources to tracking the flights and to use fuel in sending up fighter planes to follow them.

China threatens to “reunify” Taiwan by force if necessary. The US opposes forced unification and is committed to supplying the island with sufficient hardware and technology to deter any invasion. As Beijing is leaning more on Taiwan, Washington is strengthening its ties with the island and forming alliances in the region, including the Aukus pact, to which the UK is a party. The partnership will allow Australia to acquire nuclear-powered submarines.

Wednesday’s incursions followed joint coastguard drills involving the United States, the Philippines and Japan in the disputed South China Sea, an area claimed almost entirely by Beijing. China typically intensifies its military activities around Taiwan when Taipei engages in diplomatic relations with other countries. Beijing vehemently opposes any diplomatic gestures that recognise Taiwan as a sovereign nation and responds assertively to joint military exercises near the island or visits by western politicians.

In April, Beijing conducted a three-day military exercise simulating a blockade of Taiwan in response to a meeting in California between Kevin McCarthy, the speaker of the United States House of Representatives, and Taiwan’s president, Tsai Ing-wen. The Chinese flights around Taiwan came a day after China and Russia carried out joint air patrols over the western Pacific, which caused alarm in Japan.

Separately, the US, Taiwan and Japan have agreed to share live images from spy drones, according to sources quoted in the Financial Times.

Four of the MQ-9B SeaGuardian reconnaissance drones will be delivered to the Taiwan navy in 2025. They will be used to monitor activities by the People’s Liberation Army Navy around the island. Under the reported agreement, live images will be available to Japan and the US, adding to their ability to respond to sudden and unexpected events in the Taiwan Strait, a crucial strategic shipping channel.

Meanwhile senior diplomats from China and the US held what were described as “candid and productive” talks in Beijing and agreed to maintain close communication to avoid tensions from escalating into military confrontation. The visit by Daniel Kritenbrink, the assistant secretary of state for east Asian and Pacific affairs, was the first by a senior official since the US shot down a Chinese spy balloon in February.

The Times