INDO-PACIFIC NEWS

Taiwan has scrambled its fighter jets 4,132 times so far this year to intercept Chinese military aircraft, an increase of 129 per cent compared to all of last year, according to a report from Reuters.

The news service was citing a report Taiwan’s Defence Ministry has submitted to the island’s Parliament, which added that China, “is trying to use unilateral military actions to change the security status quo in the Taiwan Strait, and at the same time is testing our response, increasing pressure on our air defences and shrinking our space for activity”.

However, these activities have appeared to have tapered off in recent days, with the ministry reporting only one or two sorties by GX-6 antisubmarine aircraft per day in the first week of October, taking place over international waters southwest of Taiwan but still within the Taiwanese Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ).

China claims Taiwan – the last stronghold of Nationalist Forces following their 1949 defeat on the mainland during the Chinese civil war – as its own territory, and has vowed to retake it by force if necessary.