Taiwan denounced 21 Chinese incursions on Tuesday in its Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ), the same day as the arrival of the president of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, on the island claimed by Beijing as part of its territory.
According to the Taiwanese Ministry of Defense, “21 planes of the PLA (Chinese People’s Liberation Army) entered the southeast of the Taiwanese ADIZ”. The ADIZ covers an area larger than the airspace of a country and in the case of Taiwan partially overlaps that of China.
Hours earlier, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) announced in a statement that it was on high alert and that would launch “a series of selective military actions to (…) defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity and thwart external interference and separatist attempts at ‘Taiwan independence’”.
Military authorities in Washington indicated that several American warships plied the waters from the Taiwan region.
“America will pay the price”
China and Taiwan have been separated since 1949. when Mao Zedong’s communist troops defeated the nationalists, they took refuge on the island.
In 1979, the United States recognized the Beijing government as representing China, although continued to provide military support to Taiwan.
Pelosi, who is on an Asian tour, is the highest-ranking US official to visit Taiwan since her predecessor Newt Gingrich and 1997.
The scale of US politics has heated up tensions between the two superpowers.
“America will bear the responsibility and pay the price for undermining China’s sovereignty and security,” a spokeswoman for Chinese diplomacy said a few hours earlier.
Russiafor its part, affirmed that China has “the right to take the necessary measures to protect its sovereignty” and considered Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan a “provocation.”
China has this year refrained from condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which is facing stiff resistance backed by Western powers.
The “reunification” of China is a priority objective for Chinese President Xi Jinping, who last week formally told Biden over the phone to avoid “playing with fire.”
To back up its message, the Chinese military released a military-grade video on the Internet on Monday showing screaming soldiers ready to fight, fighters taking off, paratroopers jumping out of a plane or a barrage of missiles that annihilate multiple targets.
