Taiwan in threat as 16 Chinese warplanes enter its Air Defense Identification Zone

Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense on Sunday, November 7, announced that 16 Chinese fighter jets had entered the country's Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) the day before, Deutsche Welle reported. The number of aircraft launched into the air defense zone is the highest since early October when the People's Liberation Army (PLA) sent roughly 150 warplanes into the zone in five different drills. The ADIZ is designated airspace for national security purposes, but it is not defined in international treaties. Taiwanese authorities reserve the right to require aircraft entering the ADIZ to identify themselves and their intended destination.

The ADIZ stretches hundreds of kilometres from Taiwan's shore and even extends into sections of mainland China. It is far larger than Taiwan's sovereign air space, which reaches only 12 nautical miles from the coast. Although China has flown a number of aircraft into the ADIZ on a regular basis in recent weeks, the warplanes have not entered Taiwan's sovereign airspace. On Saturday, the ministry claimed it gave radio alerts and used air defence systems to monitor the aircraft. The jets entered the ADIZ off Taiwan's southwestern coast, similar to prior invasions. 

Earlier that day, on October 31st, Chinese warplanes flew into the island nation's Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ). According to Taiwan News, Beijing dispatched at least six People's Liberation Army (PLA) Shenyang J-16 fighter jets, one KJ-500, and a Shaanxi Y-8 anti-submarine warfare plane that entered the ADIZ (MND). This was China's sixth incursion in October.

The Chinese flights inside the ADIZ on Saturday came a day after a three-day visit to Taipei by a European Parliament group. The seven members of the parliament's committee on foreign intervention in democratic processes paid a visit last week in response to a resolution passed last month calling for the body to "intensify EU-Taiwan political relations." EU lawmakers said the visit was not intended to provoke China, which considers self-governing Taiwan to be part of its territory and views any attempt to strengthen bilateral ties between Western nations and the administration in Taipei as a provocation, AP reported.

PLA is utilising AI to mimic war games for invasion operations against Taiwan

According to a report by Georgetown University's Centre for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET), the PLA is utilising Artificial Intelligence (AI) to mimic war games for invasion operations against Taiwan. According to the paper, China will continue to invest in AI in order to disrupt US military information systems, as well as to erode the US superiority in undersea warfare. The paper, titled 'Harnessed Lightning: How the Chinese Military is Adopting Artificial Intelligence,' claims to have analysed roughly 350 AI partnerships between Chinese troops and state-owned defence firms with the goal of implementing AI by 2020.

(With inputs from agencies)

Image: AP