Friday, March 29

Borders in the Sky and the Sea are Fueling Tensions Between China and Taiwan

For days, the Chinese military has been holding military exercises around Taiwan in response to the “provocative” visit to the island by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Taiwan’s ADIZ (Air Defense Identification Zone) is regularly violated during those exercises.

 

The centerline in the Taiwan Strait, a critical strait, has also been crossed several times. For the Chinese, there is no problem, but what do the violations of those “imaginary” zones really mean?

Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan last Tuesday caused quite a stir worldwide. It was a bold move, to say the least, as both US President Joe Biden and the Chinese were not fans of the plan. China reacted angrily to the visit, describing it as “interference in internal affairs.” The result of the visit: a show of muscle from the Chinese for days by holding military exercises around the island.

Yesterday, some 10 Taiwanese and Chinese ships were reported near the centerline in the Taiwan Strait, one of the world’s major straits between mainland China and Taiwan. The report comes after a series of violations in which Chinese ships and warplanes are said to have crossed the centerline in the Taiwan Strait and the ADIZ (Air Defense Identification Zone). But what are these ‘imaginary zones,’ and where do they come from?

An Air Defense Identification Zone consists of the airspace of a country and an additional part that extends far over land and water. A country tries to identify, locate and control civil aircraft in that part of the sky. A country does this to guarantee national security. An ADIZ can be declared unilaterally and extends far beyond the borders of a country so that people can react in time in case of danger.

Because an air defense zone declaration is made unilaterally, an ADIZ is not recognized by international organizations and does not appear in international treaties.

Not all countries have an air defense zone. Twenty countries have such a zone, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, North Korea, Canada, etc. China and Taiwan also have an air defense zone. The United States established the ADIZ in Taiwan shortly after the end of World War II. The zone covers large parts of the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea. Even some Chinese provinces, Fujian, Zheijiang, and Jiangxi, are under Taiwan’s ADIZ.

Thus, although the air defense zone theoretically includes some Chinese provinces, many flights in that area by Taiwan are not considered to be violations of the air defense zone. In practice, the Taiwan Strait’s centerline is considered the boundary of the Air Defense Identification Zone, but the Chinese don’t seem to care much about that either. In the past year, Taiwanese authorities identified 969 infringements by Chinese warplanes. About 9 percent of Taiwan’s annual defense budget is spent on responding to those breaches.

China’s air defense zone also occupies large parts of the Taiwan Strait. Like Taiwan’s ADIZ, the Chinese consider the centerline in the Taiwan Strait to be the informal boundary between the two zones. Until then, few problems…

Another air defense zone introduced by China in 2013 has calmed the mood. In November that year, the Chinese suddenly announced a new Air Defense Identification Zone that covered most of the East China Sea. In addition, the new air defense zone included the Japanese-controlled Senkaku Islands and South Korean Socotra Rock. The ADIZ also overlapped with large parts of the Japanese, Korean and Taiwanese ADIZ.

Although the air defense zone is not internationally recognized, the new Chinese zone caused a lot of international outcry. The Japanese, in particular, reacted furiously to the action of the Chinese. The then Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe, spoke of “an infringement of the freedom of air traffic in international airspace.” Tokyo brought the matter up with the United Nations International Civil Aviation Organization, but eventually, the issue faded into the background.

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