China’s increasing military activities near Taiwan raise ‘risk of miscalculation’: Pentagon

Washington [US], June 17 (ANI): Terming the recent incursion by Chinese warplane into Taiwan air defence identification zone (ADIZ) as ‘destabilizing’, Pentagon said Beijing’s increasing military activities in the vicinity of the island increase the “risk of miscalculation”.

On Tuesday, Taiwan witnessed the largest daily incursion as over two dozen Chinese military planes flew into the island’s ADIZ on Tuesday,

A Pentagon spokesman told The Japan Times that China’s “increasing military activities conducted in the vicinity of Taiwan are destabilizing and increase the risk of miscalculation.”

Twenty-eight Chinese military planes entered Taiwan’s ADIZ on Tuesday.

It was the largest incursion since the self-ruled island began regularly reporting such actions last year.

Flights — which included fighter jets, bombers, and anti-submarine and early warning aircraft — surpassed the previous peak of 25 planes reported on April 12.

Beijing claims full sovereignty over Taiwan, a democracy of almost 24 million people located off the southeastern coast of mainland China, even though the two sides have been governed separately for more than seven decades.

The new incursion comes just after Group of Seven Seven leaders issued a joint statement on Sunday slamming China for a series of issues and underscored the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait — comments China condemned as “slander.”

Taiwan has complained in recent months of repeated missions by China’s air force near the island, concentrated in the southwestern part of its air defence zone near the Taiwan-controlled Pratas Islands. (ANI)