The Chinese military deployed forces all around the island of Taiwan over the weekend in a set of large-scale military drills that one Chinese military analyst called a “rehearsal of possible real action.”
On Monday, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) announced its Eastern Theater Command organized maritime, aerial, conventional missile and other forces around Taiwan and carried out drills around the island from Friday to Sunday. The Eastern Theater Command said the drills were intended “to test and improve the joint operations capability of multiple services and arms.”
During this three day “rehearsal”, the Chinese repeatedly sent military aircraft into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone…
The Ministry of National Defence for the Republic of China (the formal name of the Taiwanese government) documented several instances of Chinese military aircraft entering its air defense identification zone (ADIZ) over the course of the three-day exercise. 12 Chinese fighter jets, two bombers and four other Chinese aircraft entered Taiwan’s ADIZ on Friday. Two bombers and three other aircraft entered Taiwan’s ADIZ on Saturday. Two more aircraft entered the ADIZ on Sunday. China flies military aircraft into Taiwan’s ADIZ on a near-daily basis.
This is extremely aggressive activity, and the Chinese have no intention of backing down.