Tensions are mounting once more between Beijing and Washington, as China pushes a record-breaking number of warplanes into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone
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“Beijing can turn this pressure up or down as it chooses, but it is always occurring in a sustained manner towards the goal of reunification.” “[T]hings are going badly for Beijing at the political level,” said Elbridge Colby, a former Trump Pentagon official who is now a principal at the think tank the Marathon Initiative. “Instead they might decide to just use their increasing military capability.”
“This is absolutely a wonderful opportunity to remind Taiwan of its proper place in the world, in Beijing's view,” said Dean Cheng, an expert on Chinese military capabilities at the Heritage Foundation. He noted that flying dozens of planes a day near the island forces the much smaller Taiwanese air force to respond.
Taiwan’s air defense identification zone, which is unilaterally declared for reasons of military air defense, extends far beyond its national airspace. A handful of countries across the globe have their own self-declared air identification zones. In a statement late Monday, the Pentagon said the United States is "concerned" by China's "provocative military activity" around Taiwan, which "is destabilizing, risks miscalculations, and undermines regional peace and stability."
Right now, Beijing is likely trying to wear down Taiwan’s defenses by forcing its air force to repeatedly respond to the provocations, Colby said, while at the same time dulling its alertness to a potential attack.
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