Just Earth News | @justearthnews | 11 Jul 2022, 08:45 am Print
China-Taiwan Representational image from Wikimedia Commons
Beijing: Beijing has steadily increased the number of combat aircraft flying into Taiwan’s air defence identification zone and further south in the Bashi Channel which analysts have described as part of its efforts to expand its reach around the island, media reports said on Monday.
According to Taiwan’s defence ministry, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) conducted 555 sorties in the first six months of the year, of which 398 involved combat aircraft, compared with 187 in the same period last year, reports South China Morning Post.
These warplanes included fighter jets, bombers and attack helicopters.
Beijing sees Taiwan as a breakaway province.
Taiwan considers itself to be an independent nation.
“In the past, the PLA’s air training and other missions in the region mostly involved slow-flying support planes, including reconnaissance and early warning aircraft,” Wang Kung-yi, director of Taiwan International Strategic Study Society, a Taipei-based think tank, told South China Morning Post.
- Liberation Day: US imposes 37 percent tariff on imports from Bangladesh
- New releases from OpenAI to be delayed, says Sam Altman on X amid Ghibli viral trend
- China carries out major war games around Taiwan, escalates tension in region
- Myanmar: Military Junata 'fires' shots at earthquake aid convoy, no causalty
- Myanmar: Military Junata 'fires' shots at Chinese earthquake aid convoy after it fails to stop
