US accuses China of aggressive actions directed at Taiwan’

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25 Chinese fighters entered in Air Defence Identification Zone: TAIPEI
News Agency
WASHINGTON/ TAIPEI
Taiwan’s Defence Ministry said that 25 Chinese Air Force airplanes entered its air defence identification zone on Monday. The ministry said that there were including eighteen fighter jets and four bombers among Chinese aircraft.
This is not the first time Taiwan reports such an incident. Last month, Taiwan said that it scrambled fighter jets to fend off Chinese aircraft flying close to the island territory.
20 Chinese Air Force planes flew into the island’s identification zone the island’s Defence Ministry reported back then.
Some of the aircraft were flying by the southern end of the island through the Bashi Channel that separates Taiwan and the Philippines. China considers Taiwan as a breakaway province that should be reunified with the mainland, with the territorial claim being partially recognised by the majority of the international community.
Even though Beijing does not exercise direct control over the island, the Chinese military sends its warships and aircraft to the Taiwan Strait separating its territory from mainland China.
The US has been increasing its military aid in recent years to the island – which Beijing considers to be a part of the People’s Republic of China and therefore part of its own territory – despite formally recognising the “one-China” principle since the Seventies.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has accused Beijing in an interview with NBC of purportedly acting ever more aggressively towards Taiwan, an island which China deems a part of its territory but does not actually control, and in the straits surrounding the island.
“What we’ve seen, and what is of real concern to us, is increasingly aggressive actions by the government in Beijing directed at Taiwan, raising tensions in the straits,” Blinken said.
Asked about the possibility of Washington’s involvement in the conflict should the White House’s scaremongering about Beijing invading Taiwan come true, Blinken refused to give a direct answer, stressing instead that the US still abides by the Taiwan Relations Act.
The top diplomat pointed out that under the Act, Washington is obliged to make sure that Taiwan has the “ability to defend itself” and to ensure “peace and security” in the Western Pacific.