SpaceWar.com - Your World At War
24 Chinese warplanes around Taiwan in first show of force since poll
Taipei, Jan 18 (AFP) Jan 18, 2024
More than 20 Chinese warplanes were detected around Taiwan, with 11 crossing a sensitive median line separating the self-ruled island from China, Taipei's defence ministry said Thursday, the first significant show of force since the weekend's presidential election.

The ministry, which releases data daily on the Chinese military presence around Taiwan, said Thursday that 24 warplanes and 5 ships had been detected in the 24 hours leading up to 6 am (2200 GMT).

"11 of the detected aircraft had crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait or entered Taiwan's southwest and north (air defence identification zone)," the ministry said in a statement.

Democratic Taiwan has its own government, military and currency -- but China claims it as its territory and has never renounced the use of force to bring it under its control.

Saturday's election was won by the Democratic Progressive Party's Lai Ching-te, who China regards as a "separatist". Beijing warned ahead of voting day that his win would bring "war and decline" to Taiwan.

China -- which maintains a near-daily military presence around Taiwan -- did not send an outsized number of warplanes and naval vessels in the election's immediate aftermath.

But it drew first blood in the political sphere, with Pacific nation Nauru abruptly announcing Monday it would switch diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China, leaving Taipei with just 12 countries or states that still do.

The largest number of warplanes China has sent during a 24-hour window came in September, when Taiwan detected 103 Chinese aircraft around the island. Forty of them crossed the median line.

The constant stream of Chinese warplanes and naval vessels around Taiwan represents a "grey zone" tactic that stops short of an outright act of war, conflict experts say.


ADVERTISEMENT




Space News from SpaceDaily.com
Trump shifts priority to Moon mission, not Mars
The Quantum Age will be Powered by Fusion
BlackSky accelerates Gen-3 satellite into full commercial service in three weeks

24/7 Energy News Coverage
Conventional photon entanglement reveals thousands of hidden topologies in high dimensions
Philosopher argues AI consciousness may remain unknowable
Introducing the SEVEN Class A Thermopile Pyranometer

Military Space News, Nuclear Weapons, Missile Defense
Defence of Europe's eastern flank an 'immediate' priority: eight EU leaders
Trump signs $900 bn defense policy bill into law as Admin plans major DoD changes
PM Takaichi says Japan 'always open' to dialogue with China

24/7 News Coverage
Bible 1.0: How Ancient Canon Became Our First Large Language Models
Can scientists detect life without knowing what it looks like
Deep ocean quakes linked to Antarctic phytoplankton surges



All rights reserved. Copyright Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.