Day: December 25, 2022

Seventy-one Chinese air force aircraft including fighter jets and drones entered Taiwan’s air defense identification zone in the past 24 hours, the island’s government said on Monday, the largest reported incursion to date.

The incursion included 43 Chinese aircraft that crossed the Taiwan Strait’s median line, an unofficial buffer between the two sides that lies within the defense zone, Taiwan’s

Defense Ministry said in a report, as Beijing continues military activities close to the Chinese-claimed island.

Taiwan’s official Central News Agency said it was the largest Chinese air force incursion to date, although there was no sense of alarm on the island, which has witnessed a steady increase in Chinese pressure in recent years.

China, which claims Taiwan as its own territory, said it had conducted “strike drills” in the sea and airspace around Taiwan on Sunday in response to what it said was provocation from the democratically governed island and the United States.

Taiwan, which strongly rejects China’s sovereignty claims, said the drills showed Beijing was destroying regional peace and trying to cow Taiwan’s people.

Some of the Chinese planes, mostly fighter jets, briefly crossed the median line in the sensitive Taiwan Strait before returning to China, according to a map provided by Taiwan’s defense ministry. Seven Chinese navy ships were also detected near Taiwan, the ministry said.

China’s military also sent early warning, electronic warfare and antisubmarine aircraft, as well as drones, into Taiwan’s southern air defense identification zone, or ADIZ, according to the report, which detailed Chinese activities near Taiwan over the 24 hours to 6 a.m. (2200 GMT on Sunday).

Taipei has complained of repeated missions by the Chinese air force over the last two years, often in southern areas of its ADIZ.

Taiwan sent unspecified combat aircraft to warn away the Chinese planes, while missile systems monitored their flight, the ministry said, using standard wording for its response.

China has stepped up its diplomatic, military and economic pressure in recent years on the self-governed island to accept Beijing’s rule. Taiwan’s government says it wants peace but will defend itself if attacked.

 

Source: Voice of America

U.S. President Joe Biden may have made a Christmas gift to Taiwan by signing into law a defense bill, in which the U.S. is to loan the democratic island U.S.$2 billion to bolster its capabilities against threats from China.

Biden signed on Friday the Fiscal 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) into law allotting U.S. $816.7 billion to the Defense Department, the White House said in a statement.

The Act, known as H.R. 7776, authorizes “appropriations principally for Department of Defense programs and military construction,” as well as for the Department of State, Department of Homeland Security, Maritime Administration, U.S. Coast Guard, and the intelligence community.

On the same day, the House of Representatives also passed the Comprehensive Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2023 that had been passed by the Senate.

Under the NDAA, the U.S. State Department is authorized to provide Taiwan with up to U.S.$2 billion in accordance with the Foreign Military Finance grant and loan assistance program for purchasing U.S.-made weapons and defense equipment.

The loans come with a repayment period of 12 years, the Act stipulates.

The NDAA also includes a suggestion for Taiwan to officially participate in the upcoming Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) military exercise.

Taipei welcomes law

Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs welcomed the signing of the NDAA, saying it “highly demonstrates the firm stance of the United States to support the strengthening of all-round cooperation between Taiwan and the United States.”

It said in a statement that Taipei “will continue to communicate and discuss with the U.S. Congress and the executive branch in accordance with the overall national policy, and gradually promote the implementation of various friendship provisions with Taiwan at a steady pace.”

Yet one Taiwanese analyst said this “did not necessarily mean Taiwan would get all it desired.”

Lin Ying-yu, an assistant professor at Tamkang University’s Graduate Institute of International Affairs and Strategic Studies, was quoted by the official Central News Agency as saying that “any decision on what to sell and what not to sell ultimately rested with the U.S. Department of State and Department of Defense, which are required to preclear and prioritize defense articles sold to Taiwan.”

Meanwhile China reacted angrily to the passage of the NDAA, calling it “a serious political provocation against China.”

The Chinese Foreign Ministry said: “China deplores and firmly opposes this U.S. move, and has made serious démarches to the U.S.”

China urged the U.S. to “abandon the Cold-War and zero-sum mentality and ideological bias” and not implement the act.

“China will take strong and resolute measures to firmly safeguard its sovereignty, security and development interests,” the ministry said.

China considers Taiwan a Chinese province that will be reunited with the mainland, by force if needed, and resolutely protests against the “involvement in the Taiwan issue by external forces.”