Record 16 PLA warships sailed close to Taiwan in single day, island’s defence ministry says
- Number tops previous high of 14 warships sent towards Taiwan as Beijing reacted to Nancy Pelosi’s visit in August
- Increased military pressure also comes as self-ruled island is preparing for presidential elections in January
In April, it sent as many as 12 warships in a day as part of another large-scale exercise after Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen met Pelosi’s successor Kevin McCarthy in California.
Beijing has sent fighter jets and warships to Taiwan’s self-declared air defence identification zone (ADIZ) almost every day in recent years, as relations worsened under Tsai’s independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
Those trips only intensified after Pelosi’s visit, with PLA jets more willing to fly across the median line of the Taiwan Strait, a tacit boundary that both sides generally abided by for decades until 2019. Beijing no longer recognises the line.
The increased military pressure also comes with Taiwan preparing for presidential elections in January, when Tsai reaches her mandated two-term limit.
Latest opinion polls show DPP candidate William Lai Ching-te to be the front runner, with Hou Yu-ih of the Beijing-friendly Kuomintang – Taiwan’s main opposition party – placing third, behind Ko Wen-je of the relatively new Taiwan People’s Party.
Last week also saw an uptick in PLA forays around Taiwan, with dozens of planes sent each day, according to the defence ministry in Taipei.
PLA planes including bombers, drones, and the advanced Su-30 and J-16 fighter jets made 32 flights in the 24 hours before 6am on Wednesday.
US Navy patrol plane flies over Taiwan Strait amid increased PLA activity
Some of them flew from the southwest of Taiwan to its south, while others crossed the strait median line. This was followed by 33 flights on Thursday and 30 on Friday, along similar routes.
“ROC Armed Forces have monitored the situation and tasked [combat air patrol] aircraft, navy vessels and land-based missile systems to respond to these activities,” Taiwan’s defence ministry said in a daily statement announcing the incursions, using the initialism of Taiwan’s official name, the Republic of China.
The number of flights dropped to 15 on Saturday, 10 on Sunday and 11 on Monday. No PLA plane had crossed the median line or entered the southwestern sector of the Taiwanese ADIZ since Sunday, the ministry said.
Neither the defence ministry in Beijing nor the PLA announced any heightened military activity near Taiwan.
The flights and warship passages reflected the PLA’s plans to normalise drills around Taiwan, former PLA instructor Song Zhongping said.
Such acts are considered politically provocative and are Beijing’s form of protest against closer engagement between Taipei and other governments, especially Washington.
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Beijing is opposed to Taipei having official exchanges with other governments, and views such interaction as a challenge to its sovereignty.
While the US is Taiwan’s biggest informal ally, it – like most countries – does not regard the self-ruled island as independent. However, it is opposed to any forcible change to the status quo, which Beijing has not ruled out.
Song said one cause for the stepped-up exercises could be recent actions by the US-led West, including a Nato communique on Wednesday describing China as coercive and a challenge to the defence alliance’s interests, security and values.
“Announcing military exercises is not always necessary,” Song said.
Song also cited the latest US arms sales to Taiwan and a closer US-Japan-South Korea alliance as reasons for tension, even though the recent visit by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has raised hopes of a revival in US-China economic dialogue.
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Collin Koh, a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, said the surge in PLA activities could perhaps be linked to Washington’s 2024 National Defence Authorisation Act, which passed in the US House of Representatives on Friday with provisions calling for military cooperation with Taiwan.
Projecting power with more ships near Taiwan as opposed to planes allowed the PLA to focus on overstretching the resources of the island’s navy, Koh said.
“The PLA has been … using the frequent fly-bys as a way to gradually erode the ROC Air Force capacity,” he said.
Deadly military plane crashes in recent years revealed how overstretched Taiwanese air force had become, Koh said, adding that the island also had to spend more of its defence budget on overheads and maintenance because of PLA activities.
“If you are a PLA planner, wouldn’t it look pretty logical that the next frontier to stress [out] the Taiwanese military is the naval side?”
