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The fleet of intruding military aircraft of the PLAAF include combat jets, anti-submarine aircraft, airborne early warning and control system platforms as well as the H-6 nuclear capable bomber aircraft
Photograph: eng.chinamil.com.cn / Zhang Haishen and Cheng Guang
Chinese Intrude into Taiwanese Aerospace Repeated violation of Taiwanese air space is a clear indication of the increasing military pressure that China is subjecting Taiwan to and the consequent escalation of tension between the two nations By Air Marshal B.K. Pandey (Retd) VIOLATION BY CHINA OF AIR SPACE OVER TAIWAN As per reports emanating from Taiwan, on Monday October 4 this year, as many as 56 military aircraft of the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) of the People’s Republic of China, intruded into the Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ) of Taiwan. These aircraft transgressed into the air space belonging to Taiwan without due clearance from its Air Traffic Control, the agency that is responsible for the management of air traffic in the air space of Taiwan that is under its control. The fleet of intruding military aircraft of the PLAAF included combat jets, anti-submarine aircraft, airborne early warning and control
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system platforms as well as the H-6 nuclear capable bomber aircraft. Including the latest incursion by the 56 aircraft into the airspace of Taiwan in early October this year, the total number of aircraft of the PLAAF that have violated the airspace over Taiwan since January 2021 has reached a figure of 600 which is considerably higher than that for the previous year that stood at 380. This is a clear indication of the increasing military pressure that China is subjecting Taiwan to and the consequent escalation of tension between the two nations. Taiwan has described the latest incursion by the aircraft of the PLAAF into its air defence zone as being a blatant and irresponsible
ISSUE 9 • 2021
3
