China Sends Wave of Warplanes Near Taiwan Joyu Wang 6–7 minutes
Maneuvers come a day after President Biden signed defense-policy bill
authorizing $10 billion in military assistance to Taipei

Updated Dec. 26, 2022 3:21 pm ET

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TAIPEI—China’s People’s Liberation Army dispatched a swarm of jet
fighters and other military aircraft on sorties near Taiwan on Sunday
in a move that Beijing said was a response to provocation by Washington
and Taipei. 

A total of 71 Chinese warplanes were detected flying in the region
surrounding Taiwan, with a few dozen crossing the median line of the
100-mile-wide Taiwan Strait that separates the island from mainland
China, according to Taiwan’s Defense Ministry. The ministry also said
it detected seven Chinese naval vessels in waters near Taiwan on Sunday. 

On Monday, the PLA’s Eastern Theater Command released footage on
China’s Weibo social-media platform showing several jet fighters
taking off and Navy officers carrying out reconnaissance duties. A
Chinese military spokesman said in an online statement that Sunday’s
joint combat readiness patrol and live-firing drill was a response to
“escalating collusion and provocation by the U.S. and Taiwan,” though
he didn’t elaborate.

The Biden administration and Taiwan’s government separately criticized
China’s military maneuvers, which the White House’s National Security
Council called provocative. The Chinese action “is destabilizing,
risks miscalculations, and undermines regional peace and stability,”
the NSC said.

The action and rhetoric underscore Taiwan’s role as a longstanding
source of tension in U.S.-China ties that complicates efforts by both
powers to manage their fractious relations. President Biden and Chinese
leader Xi Jinping agreed last month at their first in-person meeting to
try to stabilize relations, with senior officials set to resume contacts.

In the weeks since that presidential summit, President Biden signed
an $858 billion defense-policy bill that was cheered in Taipei and
criticized by Beijing. The National Defense Authorization Act, passed by
the U.S. Congress earlier this month, would authorize up to $10 billion
over five years to finance sales of weaponry and military equipment to
Taiwan, as well as to provide training and other security assistance
to help the democratically self-ruled island defend itself against a
possible invasion by China. 

Beijing regards Taiwan as a part of China and has vowed to take control
of the island, by force if necessary, while Washington is committed under
U.S. law to assist Taiwan in maintaining its defenses. The recent Biden-Xi
meeting attempted to steady relations after tensions soared following
a visit this summer to Taiwan by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the
highest level U.S. political leader to visit the island in 25 years. To
protest, China sent warplanes and warships and fired missiles around
the island, displaying capabilities to stage a temporary blockade.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) has said that he will
visit Taiwan should he become House speaker when Republicans take the
majority next month—a move that specialists on Chinese affairs said
would almost certainly prompt Beijing to stage more displays of force.

In response to Beijing’s latest military move, Taiwan’s Ministry of
National Defense said the flurry of activity revealed again Beijing’s
use of force to resolve differences. It said that the collaboration
between Washington and Taipei contributes to the stability of the
Indo-Pacific region and that it will continue to strengthen its military
preparedness.  

“It hopes to continue the process of normalizing such frequent flights
since the August drills,” Lin Ying-yu, a Taiwan-based PLA expert who
teaches at Tamkang University, said of Beijing. 

The PLA flights, which included more than a dozen J-16 jet fighters,
two reconnaissance drones and an airborne early warning and control
aircraft, notably didn’t involve bombers, a frequent participant in
past sorties. That suggests China’s military may be more focused at
present on maintaining air supremacy over the Taiwan Strait, rather
than aiming at an attack on Taiwan, Mr. Lin said. The U.S. Navy sails
warships through the strait from time to time in so-called freedom of
navigation operations. 

The Chinese military’s maneuvers in the Taiwan Strait came as it also
conducted annual joint naval drills with Russia. Moscow has been sharply
critical of increased U.S. support for Taiwan, repeating Beijing’s
argument that it represents a violation of Chinese sovereignty. Beijing,
meanwhile, continues to refrain from outwardly criticizing Mr. Putin’s
invasion of Ukraine even as it insists that Kyiv’s sovereignty should
be respected. 

On Tuesday, Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen plans to convene a high-level
national security meeting on “strengthening defense and adjusting
the armed force’s structure,” according to a statement from her
office. After the meeting, she is expected to announce a long-debated
lengthening of the island’s compulsory military training.

Charles Hutzler contributed to this article.

Write to Joyu Wang at joyu.wang@wsj.com

Appeared in the December 27, 2022, print edition as 'Beijing Deploys
Warplanes Near Taiwan'.