China made the largest air mobilization in its history against Taiwan’s defenses in a single day, between Sunday (25) and Monday (26). There were 71 fighter planes in the air, with more than half of them invading the virtual border that divides the island that Beijing considers its own.
According to the Eastern Theater Command of the People’s Liberation Army, the action aimed to alert Taipei after the United States approved a package with more military aid to the island, which they do not consider independent, but which at the same time safeguard against a Chinese invasion.
Last week, the Joe Biden administration signed the Taiwan Enhanced Resilience Act, a military budget instrument passed in the Senate that provides for $10 billion in military supplies for Taiwan over the next five years.
According to the Taiwanese Ministry of Defense, 47 of the planes crossed the so-called median line, which divides the Chinese and Taipei areas without official recognition, over the maritime strait that separates the territories.
It was a specially designed exercise, with J-11, Su-30, J-10 and J-16 fighters. Radar planes, anti-submarine warfare devices and reconnaissance drones were also involved. Taiwan has deployed an uncertain number of fighter jets and activated its air defenses on land and on ships, according to the ministry.
With that, the year reached yet another point of tension in the relationship between the island, the destination of the political leadership defeated by the Chinese Revolution of 1949. The communist regime in Beijing operates on the principle that there is only one China, and even Taipei’s allies in Washington do not recognize its political sovereignty, precisely because it maintains relations with the Chinese.
Under Biden, who took office last year, the Cold War 2.0 started by Donald Trump against the assertiveness of leader Xi Jinping in 2017 took on more defined contours. During the administration of the current American president, more than ten sales of advanced weapons to Taipei were approved.
In August, the row escalated significantly when the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, decided to make the first visit by a person in her office in 25 years to Taiwan.
The gesture of political support, which was not echoed by Biden, put Xi’s forces on an almost permanent state of alert in the strait, after the largest naval air drills in history in the region.
The tension had been somewhat eased after a meeting between the Chinese and the American, in which Xi sought to reach out to Biden at a time of economic difficulties – and the debacle of his Covid-zero policy, which is bringing chaos and uncertainty to China. , had not yet occurred.
At the meeting, the Chinese reaffirmed his commitment to reinstate Taiwan to the continent, but also made less effusive mentions in relation to Russia’s ally in the Ukrainian War, even though it maintains close proximity to the Kremlin.
Across the region, this dynamic reverberates: the Japanese, keeping an eye on Chinese intentions in Taiwan, decided to double their military spending in five years. The country and South Korea have been grappling with growing Sino-Russian joint patrols, which test their readiness in the air.
Finally, tempering everything, the provocations of a minor ally of Beijing, the dictatorship of North Korea, only increased with launches of different missiles throughout this year. On Monday, South Korean fighter jets were deployed against what was reported as an invasion of their airspace by planes from the north.
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