US warns China to stop provoking Taiwan after Beijing sent 77 aircraft including nuclear bombers into island’s airspace: State Department says it has ‘rock solid’ commitment to protecting its ally
- The US says China’s ‘provocative’ fly-overs risk potential ‘miscalculations’
- Taiwan says China flew 39 planes above the island on Saturday alone
- Among the planes were nuclear-capable H-6 bombers, Taiwan claims
- Taiwan is a democratically governed island about 100 mi off the coast of China
- China lays claim to it, but the island has been run independently since 1949
- China has expressed anger over the recent AUKUS agreement to help Australia build nuclear submarines
- Some also argue that the US’s recent withdrawal from Afghanistan has emboldened China to aggressively pursue its goals in the region
The United States is urging China stop its ‘provocative’ military flights near Taiwan after the communist country sent about 100 military planes, some of them capable of dropping nuclear bombs, into the island’s air defense zone over the weekend.
Taiwan’s defense ministry said that China’s air force sent 39 aircraft to the zone just on Saturday, the highest reported number to date.
They were a mixture of J-16 and Su-30 fighters as well as anti-submarine and early warning aircraft, Taiwan says. Friday’s flights included nuclear-capable H-6 bombers, although it is unclear if they were armed with warheads.
‘The United States is very concerned by the People’s Republic of China’s provocative military activity near Taiwan, which is destabilizing, risks miscalculations, and undermines regional peace and stability,’ State Department spokesperson Ned Price said in a statement.
Taiwan is a democratically governed island about 100 miles off the coast of mainland China.
The modern island nation was formed in 1949, after the Community Party kicked China’s governing KMT party out of the mainland in the Chinese Civil War.