Chinese military aircraft incursions around Taiwan have surged nearly 15-fold over the past five years, according to a report released yesterday by the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) Department of China Affairs.
Sorties in the Taiwan Strait were previously irregular, totaling 380 in 2020, but have since evolved into routine operations, the report showed.
“This demonstrates that the Taiwan Strait has become both the starting point and testing ground for Beijing’s expansionist ambitions,” it said.
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of National Defense via EPA-EFE
Driven by military expansionism, China is systematically pursuing actions aimed at altering the regional “status quo,” the department said, adding that Taiwan represents the most critical link in China’s broader military strategy.
The increase in Chinese military aircraft incursions has been consistent and steep, the report said.
Sorties rose from 380 in 2020 to 960 in 2021, 1,738 in 2022, 4,734 in 2023, 5,107 in 2024 and 5,709 last year.
“The scale and tempo of the operations clearly show that the Taiwan Strait has become the core theater of China’s gray zone activities, used to test deterrence, drain Taiwan’s defensive resources and gradually push outward existing security boundaries,” it said.
Frequent military drills allow Beijing to translate its ambitions into sustained coercive pressure against Taiwan, it added.
The department cited China’s intensive large-scale exercises last year, which involved joint operations, sea and air blockades and precision strikes.
Exercise zones used in last year’s major drills — including the “Strait Thunder-2025A” exercises in April and the “Justice Mission 2025” drills in December — repeatedly approached Taiwan’s 12-nautical-mile (22.2km) territorial sea and airspace baselines, it said.
“Such actions pose a serious threat to peace in the Indo-Pacific region,” the department said, adding that China’s strategic objectives extend well beyond Taiwan.
In areas including the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台群島), the Sea of Japan, the Yellow Sea and the South China Sea, Beijing is simultaneously advancing high-intensity military and quasi-military operations, it said.
By operating below the threshold of war, China is steadily accumulating regional advantages, it said.
China’s “Victory Day Parade” on Sept. 3 last year also served to underscore Beijing’s military ambitions, the department said.
“Such events are intended to mobilize domestic audiences and constitute a public declaration that China now views military power as a primary tool for advancing its international ambitions,” it said.
China’s coercive military activities are not isolated incidents, but expressions of a single expansionist logic applied across multiple regions, increasing the risk of accidental conflict, it added.
The department said that the international community has become increasingly alert to China’s efforts to undermine the rules-based international order.
It cited the US’ latest security and defense documents, which state that China’s military development has shifted from a deterrence-focused posture to comprehensive war preparedness, alongside continued efforts to strengthen anti-access and area-denial capabilities.
Japan, Australia, the Philippines, the EU and G7 countries have also repeatedly warned that Beijing’s use of quasi-military and “gray zone” tactics to unilaterally change the “status quo” has become a major source of risk to Indo-Pacific security, it said.
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