Taipei, May 16 (EFE).- More than 150 Chinese military aircraft have flown over Taiwan in the past five days, a series of movements that come on the eve of the first anniversary of sovereigntist William Lai as president of the island.
In its latest daily report, Taiwan’s defense ministry said 21 Chinese aircraft, including fighter jets, helicopters, and drones, ed near its territory between 6am on Thursday (22:00 GMT Wednesday) and 6am Friday.
These 21 aircraft crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait and entered the northern, southwestern, and eastern regions of Taiwan’s self-proclaimed Air Defense Identification Zone, although without crossing the borders of Taiwan’s contiguous zone, which extends 24 nautical miles (44.4 kilometers) from the island’s coast.
The military ministry detected another 131 Chinese aircraft between 6am on Sunday and 6am on Thursday, of which 90 crossed the Strait boundary and flew over different regions of the aforementioned island ADIZ.
This upswing in Chinese military activity comes just days before Lai, considered an “independence activist” and a “troublemaker” by Beijing, completes his first year in office as Taiwan’s president.
Liang Wen-chieh, spokesman for Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council, the body in charge of relations with China, said Thursday that “it cannot be ruled out” that the Chinese Communist Party “will take advantage of the anniversary of Lai’s inauguration to provoke new incidents, using military maneuvers as a tool for political propaganda.”
Beijing considers Taiwan an “inalienable part” of Chinese territory and has not ruled out the use of force to achieve the “reunification” of the island and the mainland, one of the long-term goals set by Chinese President Xi Jinping after coming to power in 2012.
Taiwan’s government, led by the Democratic Progressive Party since 2016, maintains that the island is already a de facto independent country and says its future can only be decided by its 23 million inhabitants. EFE
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