The Taiwan Air Force issued a warning to ward off 27 Chinese aircraft that entered its air defense zoneaccording to the Taiwanese Ministry of Defense, in the latest surge in tension in the delicate Taiwan Strait.
Taiwan, an autonomous island claimed by China, has been complaining for a year about the repeated missions of the Chinese air force near the island, governed democratically, often in the southwestern part of its air defense identification zone, or ADIZ, near the Pratas Islands, controlled by Taipei.
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During a four-day period that began on October 1, when China celebrated its national day, Taiwan said nearly 150 PLA military aircraft entered its ADIZ, not in territorial airspace but in an area wider than Taiwan. watch and patrol to have more time to respond to any threat.
The latest Chinese mission included 18 fighters and five nuclear-capable H-6 bombers., as well as, unusually, a Y-20 aerial refueling aircraftthe Taiwan ministry said.
The bombers and six of the fighters flew into southern Taiwan, to the Bashi Channel, which separates the island from the Philippines, and then to the Pacific before returning to China, according to a map provided by the ministry.
The planes were accompanied by a refueling one, suggesting that China refueled the shorter-range fighters in flight, a skill that the country’s air forces follow perfecting to be able to project its power beyond the Chinese shores.
Taiwan sent fighter jets to ward off Chinese jets, while missile systems were deployed to monitor themthe ministry said.
There was no immediate comment from China., who in the past has said that these movements were drills designed to protect your country’s sovereignty.
Visit of the US Congressmen
The new provocation of the Xi Jinping regime occurs days after congressmen from the United States will arrive on the island, as a show of support for local authorities.
In response, the Chinese army on Friday carried out “a combat readiness patrol of naval and air forces heading to the Taiwan Strait”.
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs underlined the “strong opposition“From China to the visit of the congressmen, which means”support the Taiwanese independence activists”.
This same month there was already a first visit by US congressmen to Taiwan.
Named “Republic of China” in opposition to Beijing’s “People’s Republic of China”, Taiwan was formed as an independent entity in 1949, when the communists defeated the nationalists in the Chinese civil war and the latter retreated to the island, continuing with a dictatorial regime until the culmination of the transition to democracy in the 1990s.
In all this time, the island has kept the name of the Republic of China and the symbolism under which the Chinese nationalists also governed the territory of the current People’s Republic before its defeat in the civil war, although with democracy voices emerged that bet on breaking with that past and formally declaring independence under the name of Taiwan .
In 1979, Washington broke its official diplomatic relations with Taipei in favor of Beijing, although it continued to maintain ties with Taiwan through the American Institute in Taiwan. the “de facto embassy” of the United States on the island.
In fact, that same year, the US approved the so-called Taiwan Relations Act, which establishes that Washington will help Taiwan in defense matters, although it neither guarantees nor rules out that the North American country will intervene militarily in the event that China attacks the island, following the political line known as “Strategic ambiguity”.
(With information from Reuters, AFP and EFE)
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Source-www.infobae.com