(Taipei) The Taipei government on Friday reported another significant Chinese aviation incursion into its air defense zone, the second-largest in one day of the year, with 18 aircraft.
Posted at 10:58 a.m.
The Taiwanese Ministry of Defense said that these included twelve J-11 and J-16 fighter jets and two H-16 bombers.
This brings to more than 370 the number of Chinese aerial incursions since the beginning of the year.
By January 23, 39 Chinese aircraft had entered Taiwan’s Air Defense Zone (ADIZ).
Taiwan’s ministry said it used its own devices to broadcast warnings and deployed air defense missile systems to track Chinese planes.
The island of Taiwan lives under the threat of an invasion from China, which considers it to be part of its territory to be taken back one day, by force if necessary.
Since September 2020, it has provided figures on this type of incursion into its air defense zone.
In the last quarter of 2021, they increased, especially in October with 196 recorded incursions and up to 56 aircraft for the single day of the 4th.
Over the whole of last year, AFP recorded 969 incursions by Chinese armed forces aircraft into the Taiwanese air defense zone, more than double the number of 2020 (380).
Taiwan’s ADIZ differs from its airspace. This zone is much wider and partially overlaps the Chinese ADIZ.