Def Min: 9 Chinese Aircraft, Inc. Fighter Jets, Entered ADIZ Overnight

The Taiwanese Ministry of National Defense has confirmed that nine aircraft from China's People's Liberation Army entered the Taiwanese air defence identification zone overnight. The ministry said that in response "Airborne alert sorties had been tasked, radio warnings issued and air defense missile systems deployed to monitor the activity".

• The entry of Chinese aircraft into Taiwanese airspace is nothing new, and indeed most nights for the past two months, there have been incursions by variants of the medium-sized Y-8 aircraft used for aerial reconnaissance.
• However, last night's incursion was the largest in 2021 so far and involved eight fighters jets (four J-16s and four JH-7s) alongside the Y-8 reconnaissance plane.
• The Biden administration has reiterated its support for Taiwan, and following comments from Beijing that any declaration of independence from Taipei would result in war, the Pentagon said the comment was "unfortunate" and that Washington, D.C. "sees no reason why tensions over Taiwan need to lead to anything like confrontation".
• With Beijing enacting an ever-tighter grip on the politics of Hong Kong, there remains significant concern among US and European foreign policy hawks that Beijing's eye will soon turn to more overt action towards the Taiwanese gov't.