A “record number” of Chinese military jets flew over Taiwan’s airspace. The Taipei Defense Ministry denounced the entry of 25 aircraft, including nuclear-capable fighters and bombers, into the so-called Air Defense Identification Zone (Adiz). The raid, the most serious in a year, comes after the words of the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, who in an interview with Nbc he warned of China’s “increasingly aggressive behavior” and warned that “it would be a grave mistake to attempt to change the status quo” in the Western Pacific “by force”.
In recent months, China has operated regular flights over international waters between southern Taiwan and the Taipei-controlled Pratas Islands in the South China Sea. Yesterday, the Ministry of Defense reported, 18 fighters and four bombers, capable of carrying nuclear weapons, two antisubmarine jets and a control and early warning aircraft crossed into the airspace.
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by our correspondent Federico Rampini
According to some analysts, the air strikes show that Beijing is increasingly worried about a possible formal declaration of independence by the island, and that therefore China is warning President Tsai Ing-wen against taking measures in that direction.
Tsai, however, has repeatedly stated that Taiwan is already an independent state, rendering any formal declaration superfluous. The island has its own constitution, military and democratically elected leaders, but Beijing does not recognize its sovereignty, considering it a rebel province, and has not ruled out the possible use of force to achieve unification.
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