Taiwan in trouble: China flies warplanes and bombers through independent airspace

This past Sunday, 39 Chinese warplanes — including one bomber — entered Taiwan’s air defense zone.

The Chinese warplanes were detected in Taiwan’s south-western Air Defense Identification Zone. The ADIZ is a self-declared airspace that Taiwan monitors for national security purposes, Deutsche Welle reported.

In response to the Chinese incursion of the ADIZ, the Taiwanese Ministry of Defense scrambled its fighter jets and deployed air defense missile systems to monitor the Chinese planes’ activity.

This incursion was the largest since last October when China flew 38 planes — including bombers outfitted to potentially carry nuclear weapons — through the ADIZ.

At the time, Tawainese Premier Su Tseng-chang said, “China has been bellicose and damaging regional peace while engaging in many bullying acts,” Deutsche Welle reported.

In 2020, China made 380 separate incursions into the ADIZ. In 2021, they flew through the ADIZ over 500 times.

Last July, Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged to “reunify” with Taiwan and “smash” any attempts from the Taiwanese to attain formally recognized independence, Reuters said. Under Jinping’s rule, China has amplified its intentions to bring Taiwan under the thumb of the Chinese Communist Party and incorporate it into the People’s Republic of China – similarly to Hong Kong.

At the Chinese Communist Party’s 100th birthday celebration, President Jinping stated that “Solving the Taiwan question and realizing the complete reunification of the motherland are the unswerving historical tasks of the Chinese Communist Party and the common aspiration of all Chinese people.”

In response, Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council — an entity tasked with making policy pertaining to Taiwan and China’s strained relationship — said, “[China’s] historical decision-making errors and persistent harmful actions have caused serious threats to regional security.”

The possibility of falling under the rule of the Chinese Communist Party is, obviously, very unpopular among the Taiwanese people.

The Mainland Affairs Council stated “Our government’s determination to firmly defend the nation’s sovereignty and Taiwan’s democracy and freedom and to maintain peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait remains unchanged.”

After previously vowing to protect Taiwan should China invade, President Joe Biden has since reneged on his promise. After speaking with Xi in November, Biden said the United States does not encourage Taiwanese independence.

According to CNN, Biden said, “They have to decide — Taiwan, not us. We are not encouraging independence.”

Notably, many American corporate entities are silent on China’s growing aggression toward Taiwan. American film studios, professional sports leagues, and even soda companies bend the knee so that they may do business within the Chinese mainland.

China has made it clear that it’s a matter of when it invades Taiwan, not a matter of if it invades. The fact that American companies are increasingly conducting business with a nation that violates human rights and national sovereignty ought to be a concern toeveryone.