Taiwan has recorded more than 100 Chinese military aircraft flying around its island in one day. The Ministry of Defense in Taipei announced on Monday that 103 People’s Liberation Army aircraft and nine warships were registered within 24 hours at 6am (local time). The Chinese military flies to the area almost daily. This time the number was comparatively high, 103 aircraft.
“We call on authorities in Beijing to take responsibility and immediately stop such unilateral and destructive actions,” Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said. According to information, 40 planes flew over the symbolic center line of the Taiwan Strait, the strait between the Republic of Taiwan and the People’s Republic of China. Thus, they penetrated the air defense zone in the southeast and southwest of Taiwan.
Taiwan is part of Chinese territory and there is no so-called middle line in the Taiwan Strait, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said on Monday. For further information, he referred to the relevant Chinese authorities, as this was not a diplomatic issue.
China, governed by the Communist Party, sees Taiwan, with its approximately 24 million inhabitants, as part of its territory. Beijing therefore reacts sensitively when delegations from other countries visit the country or promise support. Most recently, China sanctioned two US defense companies for selling weapons to Taiwan, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced.
Last weekend, representatives from China and the US spoke to each other in several rounds in Malta. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan that the Taiwan issue was a “red line” that should not be crossed in China-US relations, according to Chinese sources. According to the White House, the US and China intend to hold new talks at the “highest level” in the coming months.
Taiwan has had an independent government since 1949. Beijing has threatened to invade in the past. More recently, observers also assumed that the Chinese military was carrying out a major exercise in the Western Pacific, where Taiwan is located. China’s Foreign Ministry did not provide any information and called for provocations that would disturb the peace in the Taiwan Strait to be avoided.
The conflict between Beijing and Taipei dates back to the civil war in China: after the defeat against the communists, the Chinese national government fled with its troops to Taiwan. The island has been governed independently ever since, while the Communist People’s Republic was proclaimed in Beijing in 1949.