Taiwan: Beijing deployed 71 fighter jets during major military maneuvers

China has deployed 71 fighter jets during military maneuvers this weekend around Taiwan, the Taipei Defense Ministry said on Monday (December 26th).

© DADO RUVIC / REUTERS

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China has deployed 71 fighter jets in military maneuvers around Taiwan over the weekend, the Taipei Defense Ministry said on Monday (December 26th), including 60 fighter jets, in one of its biggest daily incursions. nowadays. 

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The tension went up a notch this weekend.

Mainland China has deployed no less than 71 combat aircraft during military maneuvers around Taiwan.

Beijing said it conducted the military drills near the island, which it claims, on Sunday in response to "

" and "

" between the United States and Taiwanese authorities.

In a message posted on Twitter, Taiwan's Defense Ministry said 60 fighter jets took part in the exercises, including six SU-30s, among China's most advanced aircraft.

71 PLA aircraft and 7 PLAN vessels around Taiwan were detected in our surrounding region by 6 am(UTC+8) today.

ROC Armed Forces have monitored the situation and tasked CAP aircraft, Navy vessels, and land-based missile systems to respond to these activities.

pic.twitter.com/DagRhnN69F

— 國防部 Ministry of National Defense, ROC 🇹🇼 (@MoNDefense) December 26, 2022

In this daily update, Taiwan further indicates that 47 of these planes entered the air defense zone (ADIZ) of the autonomous democratic island, which constitutes the third largest daily incursion recorded, according to the database. AFP data.

Province to unify

China considers Taiwan, with a population of 24 million, to be one of its provinces, which it has yet to successfully reunify with the rest of its territory since the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949.

She sees with dissatisfaction the rapprochement at work in recent years between the Taiwanese authorities and the United States, which has provided the island with military support against Beijing for several decades.

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Under President Xi Jinping, Beijing has stepped up military, diplomatic and economic pressure on Taiwan as relations deteriorated.

One of the means of pressure increasingly used by China is to fly over the air defense zone of Taiwan with its warplanes.

Since the start of the year, more than 1,700 such incursions have been recorded, compared to 969 in 2021 and 146 in 2020.

Deplete the Taiwanese aircraft fleet

Some have also crossed the "

" which runs along the Taiwan Strait and separates Taiwan from the mainland.

Flights in the ADIZ – an area much wider than a country's airspace where any foreign aircraft are expected to report to local authorities – are seen as a way to deplete the aging fleet of fighter jets Taiwanese and study his defensive responses.

China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) said Sunday's maneuvers were "

".

On Saturday, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs had expressed its "

" after the adoption of an American law on defense, the National Defense Authorization Act, which authorizes in particular 10 billion dollars of military aid and sales of weapons in Taiwan.

The Chinese authorities favor "

" with the island, but have never given up the use of force to conquer it, especially if it declares its independence.

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