The island’s Defense Ministry reported on Saturday that China had dispatched dozens of warplanes, including fighter jets and bombers, toward Taiwan. This was a bold demonstration just days before the democracy planned to conduct military drills to prepare for an invasion.
Next week, Taiwan’s military will conduct combat preparedness drills for preventing an invasion as part of the annual Han Kuang exercise. Additionally, it will carry out the yearly Wan’an drills, which simulate evacuations in the event of an air raid and are intended to prepare civilians for natural calamities.
Between 6 a.m. on Friday and 6 a.m. on Saturday, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army dispatched 37 aircraft and seven navy vessels over Taiwan, the ministry reported.
After a civil war that left the mainland under the power of the governing Communist Party, Taiwan and China divided in 1949. Although the island has never been a part of the PRC, Beijing insists that it must reunite with the mainland.
China has increased the number of military planes it has dispatched toward Taiwan in recent years in response to political activity on the island.
In retaliation for former US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s August trip to Taiwan, China conducted extensive military exercises. In a significant escalation, it launched missiles above the island, disrupting commerce routes in the Taiwan Strait and forcing aircraft to change course.
In reaction to Taiwan’s president Tsai Ing-wen meeting with the current speaker of the US House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, in April, the PLA also conducted extensive war readiness drills in the air and on the water near the island.
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