Taiwan has reported another incursion by Chinese warplanes as seven military aircraft of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) enter the self-ruled island's air defense identification zone (ADIZ)on Tuesday.
Five People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) Shenyang J-16 fighter jets, one Shaanxi Y-8 electronic warfare plane, and one Shaanxi Y-8 anti-submarine warfare airplane flew into the southwest corner of Taiwan's ADIZ, according to Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense (MND).
In response, Taiwan sent aircraft, broadcast radio warnings, and deployed air defense missile systems to track the PLAAF planes, reported Taiwan News.
A total of nine Chinese aircraft have been spotted in Taiwan's identification zone so far this month, including five fighter jets and four spotter planes.
Since September last year, China has increased its use of gray zone tactics by routinely sending aircraft into Taiwan's ADIZ, with most occurrences taking place in the southwest corner of the zone.
Air Defence Identification Zone(ADIZ) is an area that extends beyond a country's airspace. It is the area where aircraft are asked to identify themselves by the air traffic controllers.
Gray zone conflicts are activities by a state that is harmful to another state and are sometimes considered to be acts of war, but are not legally acts of war.
The number of flights is expected to increase further as tensions rise over major political events on two sides of the Taiwan Strait in 2022, Taiwan News reported.
Beijing claims full sovereignty over Taiwan, a democracy of almost 24 million people located off the southeastern coast of mainland China, despite the fact that the two sides have been governed separately for more than seven decades.
Taipei, on the other hand, has countered the Chinese aggression by increasing strategic ties with democracies including the US, which has been repeatedly opposed by Beijing. China has threatened that "Taiwan's independence" means war.
