39 Chinese warplanes entered air defence zone: Taiwan

Taipei: The Taiwan administration informed that China had sent as many as 39 warplanes into their air defence zone on Sunday, Agence France-Presse reported. The Chinese move was the second-largest invasion into Taiwan territory.

The island nation's administration further said that it deployed its own aircraft to signal warnings on Sunday and readied its air defence missile systems to track the Chinese air units entering the territory.

The Chinese air troops included 24 J-16 fighters, 10 J-10 fighters and one nuclear-capable H-6 bomber but the objective behind China's sudden huge trespass remains unclear. However, the incident occurred while the United States and Japan were conducting naval exercises in the Philippine Sea, waters east to Taiwan.

Taiwan, the island nation, is under non-stop threat from China since the latter consider the democracy a part of its territory and will claim it in time with force if needed. In late 2021, Taiwan's air defence identification zone (ADIZ) saw an increased number of incursions by China. In October, 56 warplanes entered the Taiwan air zone in a single day, the largest ever. The month recorded 196 Chinese incursions, and 149 of them happened in four days.

Taiwan started the regular release of data on ADIZ in September 2020.

Its defence zone is not as exact as its territorial airspace but has a generous expanse of area that overlaps with Chinese ADIZ. According to AFP's analysis, Taiwan had 969 Chinese incursions last year, which was 380 in 2020. Also, keeping the defence online is putting pressure on Taiwan's air force, and there were fatal accidents like fighter plane crashes.

Being turned aggressive against Taiwan after the latter elected Tsai Ing-wen as president in 2016. Tsai considers her nation as sovereign and not a part of China.