TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — China has increased its incursions of military aircraft into Taiwan's air defense identification zone (ADIZ) by 300%, according to the commander of US Air Forces in the Indo-Pacific Command.
In an interview with NBC News published on Saturday (Nov. 9), US Air Force General Kevin B. Schneider said People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) incursions in Taiwan's ADIZ have risen substantially over the past five months. “Whether it’s coming into the air defense identification zone or crossing the center line within the Taiwan Strait, since the inauguration we have seen a 300% increase in those air activities,” said Schneider.
Schneider observed increased activity since President Lai Ching-te's (賴清德) inauguration in May. ADIZ incursions tripled from 109 in June 2023 to 325 in July 2024, according to a chart by Ben Lewis, an independent defense analyst.
Liu Pengyu (劉鵬宇), the spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C. defended the increased military flights claiming to NBC News that they are “a necessary and legitimate move to crack down on ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist forces and their separatist activities and send a warning to external interference and provocations.” Liu added, “It is fully consistent with international law and common practices.”
Schneider, who has 46,000 airmen under his command in Japan, South Korea, Hawaii, Alaska, and Guam, said the greatest challenge is the increasing use of Beijing's burgeoning armed forces to intimidate countries in the region. “It's the behaviors that have gone along with that,” he told NBC News, "it’s the bullying, the aggressiveness.”
The general said these incursions are part of Beijing's strategy to “present a fait accompli to the world.” The National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2022 defines "fait accompli" as the use of force by China to “invade and seize control of Taiwan before the United States can respond effectively.”
Schneider predicted that Beijing would continue to escalate these military activities in combination with "diplomatic activities, informational activities, economic activities, to win without fighting."