China flies fighter planes close to Taiwan in Biden’s early test

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Taiwan’s Ministry of Defense said 13 Chinese planes entered the southwestern portion of the island’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) on Saturday, followed by 15 on Sunday, prompting Taipei to take defensive measures, including scrambling jets to avoid the Chinese flights. to follow.

According to the Taiwan Ministry of Defense, Chinese military aircraft performed more than 380 flights to the island’s air defense identification zone last year. The US Federal Aviation Administration defines an ADIZ as “a designated area of ​​airspace over land or water in which a country requires the immediate and positive identification, location, and air traffic control of aircraft in the interests of the national security of the country.”

While the frequency of such exercises has increased in recent years, the timing and composition of the latest formations – mainly jet fighters and bombers – seemed to send a message to the new Washington administration.

Beijing claims full sovereignty over Taiwan, a democracy of nearly 24 million people located off the southeast coast of mainland China, despite the two parties having been separately ruled for more than seven decades.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has vowed that Beijing will never allow the island to become independent and has refused to rule out the use of force if necessary.

In a statement Saturday, the Biden government urged Beijing to stop intimidating Taiwan and pledged support for the democratic government in Taipei.

“We urge Beijing to end its military, diplomatic and economic pressure on Taiwan and instead engage in meaningful dialogue with Taiwan’s democratically elected representatives,” said Ned Price, spokesman for the US State Department. , adding that ties between the US and Taiwan are deepening and Washington remains committed to the island’s self-government.

The US showed a strong commitment to the defense of Taiwan during the Trump administration and approved the sale of advanced military hardware to Taipei, including F-16 fighter jets, while sending high-level envoys to the island, both moves that Beijing angry.
In an early show of support from the Biden government to the island, Taiwan’s de facto ambassador Hsiao Bi-khim attended Biden’s inauguration last week. It was the first official invitation to a representative of the Taipei government since 1979, when Washington established formal diplomatic ties with Beijing. On the same day, Beijing announced sanctions against outgoing US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and 27 other senior officials under Trump, accusing them of “prejudice and hatred of China.”

American airline in the South China Sea

In addition to support for Taiwan, State Department spokesman Price said on Saturday that Washington would also stand alongside other Indo-Pacific friends and allies as China ramps up military activities in the region.

As a token of that solidarity, a US Navy aircraft carrier attack group marched into the South China Sea over the weekend, the first deployment during the Biden administration of one of the 100,000-ton warships with a contingent of more than 60 aircraft.

The rear US guided missile destroyer USS John S. McCain and the Royal Australian Navy HMAS Ballarat will sail together in integrated operations in the South China Sea in October.

A U.S. Navy statement said the carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt and its guided missile cruiser and destroyers were on a planned deployment to maintain the freedom of the seas in the 1.3 million square mile South China Sea, almost all of which Claims China as its sovereign territory. .

“With two-thirds of world trade traveling through this very important region, it is vital that we maintain our presence and continue to promote the rules-based order,” Rear Admiral Doug Verissimo, commander of Carrier Strike Group Nine, said in a statement. statement.

But at the end of 2020, China said military moves like that of the Roosevelt strike group were causing tensions.

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“Some countries outside the region are coming from afar to flex their military muscles, stir up confrontation and create tension in the South China Sea, which is the main cause of the ‘militarization’ of this region,” said the spokesman for the region. Ministry of Defense, Senior Colonel Tan Kefei. said at a regular press conference.

Last year, the US Navy sent two of its aircraft carriers, the world’s largest warships, into the South China Sea twice for dual exercises, something it had not done for the past six years.

Washington also regularly conducts freedom of navigation in the South China Sea, most recently in December. These are US warships steaming within the 12-mile boundary of coastlines that nations can claim as their territorial waters.

China’s New Coast Guard Law

On Friday, Beijing gave another indication of how it could tighten its control over the waters it claims in the region by passing a new law allowing its coast guard to fire at foreign ships.

The law, which will take effect on Feb. 1, also allows the Coast Guard to demolish foreign structures built on reefs and islands claimed by China and establish exclusion zones to keep out foreign ships.

The law could increase the chances of confrontation not only between China and other claimants in the South China Sea – including Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan – but also in the East China Sea, where China and Japan’s sovereignty. an archipelago known as the Senkakus in Japan and the Diaoyus in China.
The Senkaku / Diaoyu Islands are shown in a file photo.
On Monday’s English-language news website, the Chinese military specifically referred to the Japan-controlled islands when announcing the law, with a headline saying it would protect Beijing’s sovereignty over the uninhabited rocky chain, 1,200 miles (1,900 kilometers) southwest of Tokyo, protects. .

“The new coastguard law shows China’s clear stance and determination to preserve its sovereignty,” the report said, citing Lu Yaodong, a research fellow at the Institute of Japanese Studies under the state-affiliated Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

“Regular patrols in the vicinity of the Diaoyu Islands will be guaranteed by legislation,” said Lu.

Chinese ships spent record time in the waters around the islands last year and were sentenced from Tokyo. Washington has repeatedly said that the islands are covered by the US-Japan mutual defense treaty that would require the US to respond to any Chinese action against Japanese ships there.

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