The island’s government said China sent 39 warplanes mostly fighter jets into Taiwan’s air defence zone on Sunday, the largest daily incursion since October.

Taiwan is constantly threatened by invasion by China, which regards the self-governing, democratic island as part of its territory to be reclaimed, if necessary by force.

China’s incursions into Taiwan’s air defence identification zone (ADIZ) increased dramatically in the fourth quarter of 2021, with the biggest single day being October 4, when 56 Chinese warplanes entered the zone.

Late Sunday, Taiwan’s defence ministry said it scrambled its own planes to broadcast warnings and deployed missiles to track 39 Chinese planes that had entered the ADIZ.

The incursions included 24 J-16 fighters, 10 J-10 fighters, and one nuclear-capable H-6 bomber, which experts say are among China’s favourite jets for testing Taiwan’s air defences.

Taiwan only began publishing data on air incursions on a regular basis in September 2020.

October was the busiest month on record, with 196 incursions, 149 of which occurred in just four days during Beijing’s annual National Day celebrations.

The defence zone is not the same as Taiwan’s territorial airspace; instead, it encompasses a much larger area that overlaps with China’s own ADIZ.

Since Tsai Ing-wen was elected president in 2016, Beijing has increased pressure on Taiwan, which she sees as a sovereign nation separate from “one China.”

According to a database compiled by AFP, Taiwan had 969 Chinese warplane incursions into its ADIZ last year, more than double the 380 carried out in 2020.

Taiwan’s air force has had a string of fatal accidents in recent years due to China’s constant pressure on its ageing fleet.

After one of its most advanced F-16V jets crashed into the sea during a routine training mission, killing one pilot, the Air Force temporarily grounded all F-16 fighters earlier this month.

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