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This sort of thing has been happening since the very start of the Biden administration. It started relatively small, just eight bombers and four fighter jets. The message being sent wasn’t subtle. As one PLA military spokesman put it, Taiwan independence would mean war. A Chinese fighter pilot was even more blunt in response to a Taiwanese warning to leave the area he said, “This is all ours.”
Ever since, China has been upping the ante by increasing the number of warplanes and ships sent toward and around Taiwan. Sunday the PLA set a new record with 103 planes in 24 hours:
China’s military sent 103 warplanes toward Taiwan in a 24-hour period in what the island’s defense ministry called a recent new high.
The planes were detected between 6 a.m. on Sunday and 6 a.m. on Monday, the ministry said. As is customary, they turned back before reaching Taiwan. Chinese warplanes fly toward the self-governing island on a near-daily basis but typically in smaller numbers. The Taiwan ministry didn’t explain what time period it meant by a “recent” high…
Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said 40 of the planes crossed the symbolic median line between mainland China and the island. They included more than 30 fighter jets as well as midair refueling tanker planes. Taiwan also reported nine Chinese naval vessels in area waters in the previous 24 hours.
The image above shows some of the flight plans of the Chinese pilots. Some fly just over the media line then fly parallel to it before returning to the mainland. Taiwan asked China to stop the aerial harassment campaign.
Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said Monday’s incursion set a “new high” and would pose “severe challenges” to security in the Taiwan Strait.
