Voice of America
Date: December 25, 2017
By: Ralph Jennings
TAIPEI, TAIWAN — Taiwan is facing a new source of pressure from rival China as the
China unveils its J-20 stealth fighter during an air show in Zhuhai, Guangdong Province, China, Nov. 1, 2016. Military planes from China have increasingly skirted the island of Taiwan.
communist government increasingly often sends military aircraft to skirt the island, a challenge to the local armed forces.
Planes from China flew near Taiwan in November and December, raising concern last week at the presidential office in Taipei. Over the past two years, Chinese military units have sent planes 10 times just outside the Taiwanese air defense zone, former Taiwan defense minister Andrew Yang estimates.
China considers self-ruled Taiwan as part of its territory that must eventually be unified. Officials in Beijing resent Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen for not accepting their “one-China” principle, which would bind the two sides under one flag, as a condition for any talks.
China is conducting the long-range flights in part to warn Taiwan against moving toward formal independence at the risk of a military strike, analysts say. [FULL STORY]
