By Jim Morris, Warrior Vice President, News
There’s been a show of force in the skies around Taiwan in recent weeks as China underscores its unhappiness with those resisting the island’s reunification with the mainland.
According to Taiwan’s defense ministry, there were consecutive double-digit numbers of People Liberation Army aircraft operating around the island in the past week. On Monday, Taiwan said that 23 PLA aircraft and seven PLA ships were detected over the past day.
The number of Chinese planes flying near Taiwan hit double-digits on June 18 and remained at that level into this week. China regularly conducts patrols in the area, but according to one report, the numbers of planes and ships involved are higher than they have been in recent years.
The stepped-up patrols are taking place in the wake of the latest US arms sales to Taiwan. The Biden administration has agreed to sell Taipei Switchblade 300 and ALTIUS 600M-V drones at an estimated cost of $360 million.
In the last few years, China has dramatically stepped up the number of flights violating Taiwan’s Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ). According to Warrior research, there were 972 Chinese sorties violating the ADIZ in 2021, a number that rose to 3,119 by 2023.( China Triples Taiwanese Airspace violations .. Is it Prep for a Surprise “Attack?” – Warrior Maven: Center for Military Modernization)
An essay in the Journal of Strategic Studies last year noted that Chinese ADIZ violations tend to correspond to politically sensitive developments such as major US and allied training in the region and visits from US or other pro-Taiwan officials. But they are more than just aerial displays of Beijing’s unhappiness.
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“…these (flights) have primarily consisted of missions such as intelligence gathering, tracking foreign naval forces, or wearing down Taiwan’s armed forces and testing response times,” the essay noted.
The essay also said some of the incursions resembled maritime strike training in which anti-submarine warfare planes identify enemy naval vessels and relay that information to attack aircraft such as the J-16 or JH-7.
Researchers looking into the Chinese flights found a surprising absence – China’s fifth-generation fighter jet, the J-20, didn’t take part. There’s speculation that China is holding back the plane to keep it from being seen by Taiwan’s air defenses, surveillance planes or fighter jets at close range.
Beijing has a standard line when questioned about aerial and naval maneuvers around Taiwan.
In an interview with the Global Times, an English-language newspaper backed by the Chinese Communist Party, a military expert said the patrols aimed to deter what he called Taiwan independence secessionists and external interference forces.
He also said they enhance combat readiness to defend China’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Meanwhile, Taiwan is preparing for military exercises that are likely to spark some sort of reaction from China. Reuters quoted a senior defense official who said the annual Han Kuang drills, set to begin July 22, will be as close to actual combat as possible.
The official said the exercises aim to simulate real fighting given a rapidly rising threat from the Chinese mainland.
