Taiwan's fighters are regularly scrambled to confront warplanes sent towards its airspace by Bejing, such as this H-6 bomber last monthChina sent 29 fighter jets and bombers into Taiwan’s air defence identification zone yesterday, the third biggest operation of its type against the self-governed island. The deployment is widely interpreted as part of Beijing’s plan to intensify the military harassment that began nearly two years ago and has become a near-daily routine. SponsoredBeijing vows to unify with the island by 2050, by force if necessary, as part of President Xi’s ambition of a national rejuvenation. However experts doubt that the Chinese leader will attack the island any time soon after Russia failed to achieve rapid success in its invasion to grab swathes of Ukraine. The latest sorties quickly drew protests from Joseph Wu, Taiwan’s foreign minister, who tweeted: “The latest large-scale exercise by the #PLA

Source: The Times June 23, 2022 16:40 UTC