It has become common for Chinese military aircraft to disturb Taiwan, and the frequency of such disturbances has increased rapidly in recent days. On Monday (November 2), there were eight sorties, six of which were fighter jets, that entered Taiwan’s airspace southwest of the Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) from south of the median line in the Taiwan Strait. This was the ninth consecutive day that the PRC military aircraft disturbed the flights.
Due to the continuous disturbance flights by Chinese Communist military aircraft, the Taiwan Ministry of National Defense (MND) website has set up a “Real-time Military News” section since mid-September, announcing the entry of Chinese Communist military aircraft into Taiwan’s southwest airspace and their overflights of the centerline of the Taiwan Strait. According to the section, since September 17, Chinese military aircraft have made 32 disturbance flights to Taiwan.
Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense said the Chinese military aircraft that entered the airspace southwest of Taiwan on Monday included: one sortie each of the Y-8 anti-submarine aircraft, Y-8 technical reconnaissance aircraft, two sorties of Su-30 fighter jets, two sorties of J-16 fighter jets and two sorties of J-10 fighter jets. The Taiwan military responded by sending air patrols, radio dispersals, and anti-aircraft missile chases. Photos of these Chinese aircraft were also posted on the webpage.
The “Southwest Taiwan Airspace” Facebook fan page, which observes military developments in Taiwan’s southwest airspace, said that Chinese military aircraft entered the southwest airspace seven times on Monday from 5:59 a.m. until the afternoon, entering and exiting the airspace seven times. In October, the Facebook page counted at least 25 days of turbulence by Chinese military aircraft, which were dispersed more than 84 times by Taiwan’s Air Force broadcasts, and only two days since the beginning of November.
Because of the high frequency of PRC military aircraft disturbing Taiwan, the Taiwan Air Force (TAF) must respond immediately with emergency airlift each time. Experts say that in order to gain air superiority, the military will send at least double the number of sorties of Chinese military aircraft to monitor the situation.
Taiwan Defense Minister Yan De-Fa said in a report to the Legislative Yuan last month that from the beginning of this year to October 7, the PLA deployed 1,710 military sorties and 1,029 naval shipments to invade Taiwan’s Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ), including 217 sorties of Chinese Communist military aircraft that invaded Taiwan’s southwest ADIZ and 49 sorties of communist aircraft that crossed the centerline of the Taiwan Sea, the highest number since 1990; Taiwan deployed 2,972 sorties of Chinese Communist military aircraft that invaded Taiwan’s Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ); and the PLA deployed 2,972 sorties of Chinese Communist aircraft that crossed the centerline of the Taiwan Sea. The cost of intercepting the sorties is about $850 million.
Some experts say that the increase in the density of Chinese military aircraft harassment, the Taiwan Air Force’s budget for logistical maintenance will definitely increase as well. Military sources also argue that the CCP is clearly fighting a war of attrition, using a high-density harassment strategy in an attempt to collapse Taiwan’s military.
The Taiwan Air Force Command said that the military has certain norms for responding to the disturbance of Taiwan by communist aircraft, and that it has abundant logistical capacity and is absolutely capable of carrying out the task of defending sovereignty, so please rest assured.
Taiwan’s former Chief of Staff General Li Mingxi said in a recent interview with the Taiwan Central News Agency that the PLA’s gray conflict means to play psychological warfare against Taiwan, although the Chinese Communist Party deployed military force is also “consumed”, but the two sides of the Taiwan Strait military resources are highly asymmetric, and the Chinese Communist Party military aircraft will continue to disturb Taiwan, in the case of limited defense resources, it is necessary for Taiwan to think of a smarter way to prevent being consumed, he said, “otherwise buy more fighter jets are not enough.
In response to China’s intensified harassment of Taiwan, the United States has also stepped up its arms sales to Taiwan. Just late last month, the U.S. State Department approved four major arms sales to Taiwan, including 100 sets of Harpoon coastal defense systems, the M142 High Mobility Rocket System (HIMARS), the AGM-84H extended-range surface-to-air missile, and the MS-110 reconnaissance pod.
The Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) stated that the proposed arms sale is consistent with U.S. law and policy and supports the recipient’s continuing efforts to modernize its armed forces and maintain a “credible defense capability,” thereby benefiting U.S. national, economic, and security interests.
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