China ramps up its military pressure around Taiwan just as the country celebrates its National Day, with 27 military aircraft spotted in the region.
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00:00China has been increasing its military activity in the region ahead of Taiwan's National Day.
00:06On Thursday, Taiwan's defense ministry reported 27 Chinese military aircraft operating around
00:12the country.
00:13That's an unusually high number.
00:15Now 15 of those planes breached Taiwan's Air Defense Identification Zone, or ADIZ.
00:21This airspace is not part of Taiwan's territory, but the military uses it as a buffer zone
00:25for security purposes.
00:27Those planes were part of a Joint Combat Readiness Patrol.
00:31It's important to remember that Chinese planes around Taiwan is a common way in which Beijing
00:35puts pressure on the country, but it's pretty likely that we'll see more activity coming
00:40from China.
00:41Back in May, after President Lai Ching De's inauguration speech, China reacted with two
00:46days of large-scale exercises, called Joint Sword 2024A.
00:52That simulated an attack on Taiwan with more than 100 aircraft taking part in that drill.
00:57Analysts say that Taiwan could use National Day, Taiwan's National Day, as a pretext to
01:02conduct more exercises.
01:05I don't want to say reaction because I think pretext is the right word.
01:08I think they're looking for an excuse.
01:11Obviously they can just ratchet up the political pressure on the Lai administration.
01:15They can also use this to just normalize military activity that didn't used to be normal.
01:21And then of course, in every one of these exercises, they are getting the chance to
01:24practice the things that they would want to practice before they might have to actually
01:28do this for real.
01:29Sources within Taiwan's defense ministry tell me that they are on the lookout for some sort
01:33of large-scale exercise, maybe even a Joint Sword B, which would be part two of China's
01:39exercises that took place in May.
01:41That could possibly simulate a blockade of Taiwan, which could last anywhere from a few
01:45days to even maybe a week.
01:48Howard Zung and Jaime O'Connor in Taipei for Taiwan Plus.