Nine Chinese warplanes passed the Taiwan Strait’s “center line” today and conducted patrols in a “combat-ready” mode, the Taipei Defense Ministry said.
Any country in the world would be in turmoil in a similar situation. But Taiwan is different.
For China, it is a province to be brought under control, reunited by political persuasion or by force of arms. Formally, the vast majority of world governments recognize that there is only one China and do not consider Taiwan a state (although the democratic island controls its own territory, has stable political institutions, and mints its own currency). That’s why the umpteenth incursion of Chinese fighters hardly makes the news.
On the other hand, it is now routine, the Chinese Air Force sends its jets around the island every day. Since last August, Beijing has gone a step further, ordering its pilots to cross the so-called center line of the straits, a sort of watershed that has kept Chinese and Taiwanese military units at a safe distance for decades.
In August 2022, the People’s Republic of China responded to the landing of Speaker of the American House Nancy Pelosi in Taipei with ten days of “war games”: planes and ships flying the red flag crossed the center line, using a de facto naval blockade.
Beijing is already threatening reprisals over Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen’s passage into US territory. The lady stopped in New York on her way to visit Guatemala and Belize (which recognize Taiwan as a state). And on April 7, on his way back, he was due to meet new House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in Los Angeles.
China has warned both the White House and the Taiwanese presidency, announcing “appropriate responses.” Response from President Tsai: “The world can see that Taiwan is acting responsibly as Beijing looks for excuses to escalate tensions.”