China attempts yet another incursion in Taiwan as 18 military aircraft invade ADIZ

In yet anor incident of incursion, 18 Chinese military aircraft inved Taiwan's air defence identification zone (IZ) on Friday. According to Ministry of National Defence of Taiwan, 18 Chinese aircraft - six J-11 fighter jets, six J-16 fighter jets, two Xi'an H-6 bombers, two KJ-500 airborne early warning and control aircraft, one Shaanxi Y-8 anti-submarine warfare plane and one Shaanxi Y-8 electronic warfare aircraft inved airspace, reported Taiwan news.

Y-8 ASW and two H-6 bombers flew around southwest and souast corners of Taiwan's IZ while or planes entered from southwest region, which has witnessed most incursions since military began reporting m in September 2020, according to Taiwan news. Repeating its retaliation strategy, Taiwan's Air Force dispatched aircraft, issued rio warnings and deployed air defence missile systems to track Chinese aircraft, report furr ded.

China's sky intrusions

Earlier on April 30, Taiwan's Ministry of Defence claimed that two Russian-me Su-30 fighter jets of Chinese People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) entered country's air defence identification zone (IZ). Furrmore, on April 10, at least four Chinese military aircraft inved Taiwan's IZ. aircraft was identified as a Shenyang J-11 fighter jet, a Shaanxi Y-8 EW electronic warfare plane, a CAIC WZ-10 attack helicopter and a Russian-me Mi-17 freight helicopter. For unversed, an IZ is a zone that extends beyond a country's airspace where approaching aircraft are asked to identify mselves by air traffic controllers.

It is pertinent to mention here that China, under leership of Xi Jinping, has vanced its incursion attempts on Taiwan in recent months. Notably, most heightened number of intrusions by Chinese aircraft on a single day in 2022 so far transpired on January 23, when Taiwan military spotted 39 People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) aircraft.

US approves sale of Air Defence System worth $95 million to Taiwan

Earlier last month, US also approved sale of training and equipment worth up to $95 million (over Rs 700 crores) to support Taiwan's Patriot missile defence system. According to US Defence Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA), package would comprise training, planning, fielding, deployment, operation, maintenance and associated equipment for Patriot Air Defense System.  DSCA, in a statement, noted that this proposed sale is in accordance with United States law and policy, as stated in Public Law 96-8.