Beijing is upping pressure on Taiwan. The regime sent over a hundred fighter jets near the island on Monday in just 24 hours. Almost half of the aircraft crossed Taiwan’s strait’s median line—the unofficial divide between Taiwan and mainland China.
Another fifty warplanes flew near the island on Tuesday.
The looming threat involves more than just Taiwan. The island is critical for American security. Sitting on a chain of islands stretching from Japan to Malaysia, Taiwan is a key chokepoint. It blocks China from accessing the deep waters off the island’s south-eastern coast. An area Beijing could use to launch and conceal submarine-based nuclear attacks against the continental U.S..
What’s more, Taiwan also makes over ninety percent of the world’s most advanced semiconductors, or microchips. The same chips that are used in iPhones and cars, American fighter jets, and defense systems.
A Taiwanese military expert gives his take on what’s driving the Chinese incursions on Taiwan.
“This abrupt, large scale interference from Chinese warplanes is targeting the U.S. and its allies’ joint drills. Of course, Beijing is also using it as a form of military coercion, to threaten both the U.S. and Taiwan,” Military expert Su Tzu-Yun said.
Beijing may have even bigger plans. The Chinese regime has been building airfields, and stationing fighters and drones on its coastline—about a hundred miles from Taiwan. The island’s annual defense report says Beijing is looking to gain superior air power over Taiwan.