Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen delivered a New Year’s address on Jan. 1, releasing conciliatory goodwill to mainland China. Tsai said that Taiwan is willing to engage in meaningful dialogue under the principle of reciprocity as long as Beijing has the will to improve cross-strait relations. Tsai’s statement on cross-strait relations in her New Year’s speech was seen as a renewed olive branch to the Beijing authorities.
However, the Chinese authorities have shown no signs of stopping sending warplanes into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone. According to an exclusive report from Taiwan’s Liberty Times, Chinese military aircraft appeared over Taiwan’s air defense identification zone again on the morning of Jan. 1, but were quickly dispersed by a broadcast from the Taiwan Air Force.
The Free Times reported, based on broadcast records, that the Chinese military aircraft entered the airspace southwest of Taiwan at 11:35 a.m. on Jan. 1 at an altitude of 2,500 meters. The Taiwan Air Force was on the alert and broadcasted the dispersal. The Free Times quoted the “Southwest Taiwan Airspace” fan page as recording that the type of Chinese military aircraft that attacked Taiwan on Jan. 1 was a Transport-8 anti-submarine aircraft.
For months, Chinese military aircraft have been entering Taiwan’s air defense identification zone almost non-stop.
Tsai said Chinese military aircraft and warships have been operating frequently near Taiwan over the past year, increasing pressure on Taiwan. Tsai said Beijing’s move “not only impacts cross-strait relations, but also poses a threat to the status quo of peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region.”
China declared that Taiwan and its affiliated islands are part of Chinese territory, adding that “the presence of Chinese military aircraft and ships around the Taiwan Strait is fully justified and legal for war patrols, and China is capable of thwarting all ‘Taiwan independence’ secessionist activities.”
Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense issued a press release on Dec. 30 saying that in the upcoming 2020, “the total aircraft persistently provoked and intruded into my southwest airspace, with nearly 380 sorties annually.” From Sept. 17 to date this year, a total of 138 Chinese military aircraft have entered the airspace near Taiwan. During U.S. Under Secretary of State Keith Krach’s visit to Taiwan on Sept. 19, China flew as many as 19 military sorties in one day to harass Taiwan.
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