Since President Lai Ching-te took office in May, China has continued an unprecedented surge in military aircraft sent to harass Taiwan. Over the past two days, Taiwan has seen at least 68 Chinese planes around the country.
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00:00Now Taiwan is reporting a high number of Chinese military aircraft operating around the country.
00:05In the past few days Taiwan has recorded 68 Chinese planes flying around the country,
00:10but we're going to look at activity from the past 24 hours. Now the defense ministry says that 41
00:16aircraft were spotted operating around Taiwan as of 6 a.m. Friday morning as well as seven
00:22navy ships also operating in the area. Now flying a little bit closer to Taiwan are 32
00:28Chinese military aircraft that breached Taiwan's air defense identification zone.
00:33That's this box right here that surrounds the country. Now this zone doesn't really belong
00:38to Taiwan but it's used by the military as a defensive buffer. Now what's interesting about
00:43this incursion is that it comes just one day after a U.S. guided missile destroyer sailed
00:49and transited through the Taiwan Strait in what it calls a freedom of navigation exercise. This
00:55means that the United States isn't afraid of sending ships so close to China that can sail
00:59anywhere within international waters. Now for more on why this activity is significant I spoke to Ben
01:05Lewis. He's a security analyst based in D.C. that tracks Chinese military activity around Taiwan.
01:11Well I think it is significant for one the number we're talking about is well above average 32
01:17should be considered a kind of a major incursion into the ADIZ and it comes kind of in the face of
01:23one President Lai's visit to Jinmen for the anniversary of the A23
01:28artillery battle the second Taiwan Strait crisis and it also comes immediately following a U.S.
01:34warship transiting the Taiwan Strait but it kind of in the broader scheme of things in the last
01:40three and a half months since President Lai took office there's been an unprecedented surge in
01:44Chinese military activity around Taiwan. So we have now surpassed the yearly record for the number
01:52of Chinese aircraft tracked inside the ADIZ that was 1,738 in 2022 with tonight's report we're up
02:00to over 1,770. So we've blown past that record and it looks like we're not going to stop anytime soon.
02:07You also mentioned this U.S. warship transit in the Taiwan Strait. What was the United States
02:12trying to signal to China with this operation and why was China upset with this? Well all Taiwan
02:19transits are intended to signal the same thing whether U.S. ships or U.S. and allies and partners
02:23or just other states in general which we've seen this year and that's the Taiwan Strait is
02:29international waters at the end of the day and all states have the right to transit through
02:34international waters. Now China doesn't feel that way. China you know views that the Taiwan Strait
02:40is an internal body of water for China because they claim Taiwan as part of the People's Republic
02:45of China and so it is viewed as inherently escalatory when the U.S. sends ships to the
02:50Taiwan Strait but in all reality under international law it's a completely justifiable thing to do.
02:56Now as Ben mentioned in that interview we're seeing a significant spike in Chinese military
03:01activity since President Lai Qingdao took office in May of 2024 so we can see this upward trajectory
03:08of military aircraft around Taiwan. Now Taiwan has reported more than a thousand Chinese planes
03:14in the span of these three months and so while the military here is trying to figure out how to
03:18manage that it doesn't look like that activity is going to let up anytime soon.