Originally posted by the Voice of America.
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China Is Increasing Taiwan Airspace Incursions

John Xie

   The number of Chinese incursions into Taiwan's airspace last year was
   the highest since 1996, which experts say is worsening the risk for
   conflict without drawing international headlines.

   The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) flew about 380 sorties into
   Taiwan's air defense identification zone (ADIZ) last year, a defense
   ministry statement said last week.

   The PLA began dispatching warplanes toward the island after Taiwan's
   President Tsai Ing-wen was re-elected for a second term in January, but
   the activity dramatically increased in the second half of the year in
   2020 and is now almost a daily occurrence.

   According to a VOA compilation of flight data drawn from official
   statements by Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense, Chinese warplanes
   have flown 138 of these missions since mid-September. Only four days
   into 2021, six Chinese warplanes had flown into the island's ADIZ.

   Far fewer flights

   By contrast, a Taiwan national defense report for the year 2017 said
   that during Tsai's first term, in the nearly 1½ years from August 2016
   to December 2017, China sent only 26 sorties into Taiwan's airspace.

   Experts said the increased operations were aimed at normalizing the
   incursions.

   "The main message that the Chinese attached to these movements are they
   are routine Chinese operations," said Dr. Oriana Mastro, a Chinese
   military expert and resident scholar at the American Enterprise
   Institute, told VOA.

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