Beijing – A total of 21 Chinese military aircraft entered the Beijing Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) on Tuesday. Taiwan, denounced the island’s Ministry of Defense in a statement.
The ministry announced the incursions at dawn on Wednesday, shortly after the president of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, a trip that Beijing described as “provocation”.
According to the Military Ministry, J-fighters 11 and J-11, planes-radar KJ-500 and Y-8 and Y-9 reconnaissance aircraft participated in the raid, which took place in the southwestern part of the Taiwanese ADIZ.
The irruptions occurred on Tuesday, when Pelosi had not yet had arrived in Taiwan but US and Taiwanese media took the visit for granted.
The island’s Air Force issued radio warnings and mobilized units to “respond” to the incursion into ADIZ, which is not defined or regulated by any international treaty and is not equivalent to its airspace, but covers a larger area that includes areas of mainland China.
The island’s Ministry of Defense began reporting the intrusion of Chinese planes in its ADIZ in 2009.
In the last year the number of Chinese incursions increased, actions that have been condemned by both Taiwan and the United States.
These movements reached their peak of frequency at the beginning of October last year C, when Beijing was celebrating the anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.
Pelosi’s visit has deeply irritated the Chinese government, which has responded in recent hours with economic sanctions and the announcement of military maneuvers in the coming days in the waters surrounding Taiwan.
China claims sovereignty over the island and considers Taiwan a rebel province since the Kuomintang nationalists withdrew there in 1949, after losing the civil war against the communists.
Taiwan, with which the United States does not maintain official relations, is one of the main sources of conflict between China and USA, mainly due to the fact that Washington is the main supplier of arms to the island and would be its greatest military ally in the event of a war with the Asian giant.