Amid Coronavirus Crisis, China Sends Warplanes To Fly Around Taiwan

With the coronavirus still on a rampage in China, its military decided that Sunday morning was the time to run what it calls an “island encirclement” drill circling half of Taiwan with a Shenyang J-11 fighter jet, a Xian H-6 bomber, and a Shaanxi KJ-500 early warning and control aircraft.

Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense later replied saying that authorities from the Island nation had responded immediately and appropriately to the Chinese military activity. The response was to immediately scramble Air Force reconnaissance and defense jets into action with armed F-16 fighter jets to monitor and accompany the Chinese aircraft, presumably armed as well.

Outsiders can only speculate if there is any added significance to the drill due to the coronavirus. What is known is that China has been conducting such drills frequently since 2016 when Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen first took office. Beijing believes Tsai, who won re-election last month, wishes to push the island’s formal independence.

Any link between the coronavirus and the drills would stem from Taiwan’s recent accusation that China is preventing the island from accessing full information from the World Health Organization (WHO) or attending its meetings.

Beijing has objected to Taiwan’s direct communications with WHO claiming that the island is merely a Chinese province whose interests in the “health body” are adequately represented by Beijing. Taiwan is not a WHO member because of China’s objections.

This has not prevented Taiwan from interacting with WHO and it has the support of Washington with the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva telling the WHO to deal directly with Taiwan’s government. Taiwanese experts are expected to participate this week in an online meeting of experts about the virus. Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry referred to this as a “good start” and that they wanted to take part in more WHO events.

The Taiwan-U.S. connection was further evident during this latest fly-by as Taiwan’s vice-president-elect, William Lai, was returning from a visit to Washington, where he attended the high-profile National Prayer Breakfast with U.S. President Donald Trump as a speaker. This may have been the catalyst for the military drills.

China’s Eastern Theatre Command, in a statement late on Sunday carried by the official People’s Liberation Army Daily, said the aircraft carried out “real combat-oriented training.” The statement added, “Taiwan and its island are sacred and inalienable parts of China. The Chinese military’s combat-ready patrol was a completely legitimate and necessary action aimed at the current situation in the Taiwan Strait and safeguarding national sovereignty.”

Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said, “The Chinese Communist’s long-range far-out-at-sea missions have impacted regional security and stability and endanger the peace and welfare shared by all parties in the region.”

President Tsai simply commented that China should focus on controlling the virus rather than threatening Taiwan. He said, “I want to tell China that the most important thing is to quickly get the epidemic under control.”