China sent 28 warplanes across the Taiwan Strait on Sunday as Beijing conducted its first large-scale military exercises around the island this year, Taiwan’s Ministry of Defense said.
The 28 People’s Liberation Army (PLA) planes were among 57 sighted near Taiwan, the ministry said, adding that they included J-10, J-11, J-16 and Su-30 fighter jets, H-6 bombers , three drones and one of the first early warning and reconnaissance aircraft.
Taiwan has tasked aircraft, naval vessels and land-based missile systems to respond to Chinese activities, according to the ministry.
A map provided by the ministry showed PLA aircraft crossing the median line in seven places from north to south and flying through the Taiwan Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) south of the island, then turning slightly north east of the line.
A statement from the PLA Eastern Theater Command said its forces engaged in combat exercises in Taiwan on Sunday.
“The exercise focused on land, sea and other matters, with the aim of testing the joint combat capability of the troops and resolutely countering the conspiratorial and provocative acts of external forces and ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist forces,” according to a statement published on the state-owned China Military Online.
The Communist Party of China sees Taiwan – a democratically governed island of 24 million people – as part of its territory, despite never having controlled it. He has long promised to “reunify” the island with the Chinese mainland, by force if necessary.
The combat exercise follows a similar one on Dec. 25, in which the PLA sent 47 aircraft across the midline of the Taiwan Strait out of a total of 71 that were sighted around the island, according to Taiwan’s Ministry of Defense.
US warship transits Taiwan Strait
China’s military drills on Sunday came three days after a US Navy destroyer transited the Taiwan Strait on a “freedom of navigation” operation, the first such voyage reported by the US Navy this year.
The USS Chung-Hoon “transited through a corridor in the Strait that is beyond the territorial sea of any coastal state,” a statement from the US 7th Fleet said, adding that its route “demonstrates the United States’ commitment to a free and open Indonesia. ”. Pacific.”
China said it had monitored the US warship’s movement and that all of its movements were “under control”.
A story in the state-owned Global Times tabloid said the PLA would intensify its exercises around Taiwan if provocations by external forces and “Taiwan independence” forces continue.
The Global Times story cited the transit of the US destroyer in the Taiwan Strait and a potential $180 million US arms sale to Taiwan approved by the Biden administration on December 28.
The sale of vehicle-launched anti-tank munitions delivery systems “serves the national, economic, and security interests of the United States by supporting the recipient’s continued efforts to modernize its armed forces and maintain a credible defensive capability,” a Department of Defense statement said. US state.
Washington supplies Taiwan with arms under the terms of the Taiwan Relations Act, which says the US will provide the island with the means to defend itself.
Source: CNN Brasil
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