No One Knows Why Chinese Military Jets Keep Flying Into Taliban Control Areas

In the days following President Biden’s disastrous withdrawal of American soldiers from Afghanistan, leaving the country to the Taliban and fostering an international picture of American weakness, Chinese military aircraft, including fighter jets, have frequently flown into Taiwan’s air defense zone.

“A total of 19 Chinese military aircraft, including fighter jets, flew into Taiwan’s southwestern air defense identification zone (ADIZ) on Sunday, the fourth time this has taken place in September, according to the Ministry of National Defense,” Focus Taiwan reported on Sunday, adding, “The aircraft involved were 10 J-16 multi-role fighters, four H-6 bombers, four SU-30 fighters, and one Y-8 anti-submarine aircraft.”

“An air defense identification zone is an area outside of a country’s territory and national airspace but where foreign aircraft are still identified, monitored, and controlled in the interest of national security,” the BBC explained.

This is not the first time China has flown a large number of planes into Taiwan’s air defense zone under the Biden administration; on January 24, 15 aircraft were sighted; on 12 April, Taiwan reported 25 jets.

Taiwan English News reported on June 15 that “the People’s Republic of China made 28 military aircraft incursions into Taiwan’s Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) today, June 15, a record number that follows the Group of Seven’s ‘unprecedented’ communique two days ago emphasizing the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.”

“We emphasize the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and encourage the peaceful resolution of cross-strait issues,” reads the G7 communiqué, which included the first mention of Taiwan in its history.

Here is one of the primary reasons Taiwan is so vital to the West: semiconductors. According to Bloomberg News, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. is the “world’s largest foundry and primary supplier of chips for Apple Inc. smartphones, artificial intelligence, and high-performance computing,” and that “there is also speculation that Beijing may resort to chip IP theft, with Taiwan at the forefront of those efforts.”

“More than 1 trillion chips are currently being produced annually. Industry watchers, including the National Bank of Canada, estimated earlier that TSMC alone accounts for one-fifth of the world’s chip production and up to 90% of the supply of the most advanced chips,” VOA News noted.

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