China escalated its war-mongering towards Taiwan on Jan. 28, warning the self-ruled island that “independence means war.”
The threat was made during a monthly briefing by Wu Qian, the spokesperson for China’s Ministry of National Defense. He made the remarks while responding to a question about recent activities by China’s air force near Taiwan.
China made its largest-scale military incursion into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) over the weekend—13 military aircraft flew over Taiwan’s southwest waters on Jan. 23, and another 15 military aircraft made a similar incursion the next day.
According to Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense, such incursions have since been seen on a daily basis, most recently when six Chinese military jets entered the island’s ADIZ on Jan. 28.
An ADIZ is a publicly-declared area next to a state’s national airspace, in which approaching foreign aircraft must be ready to submit their identifiers and location. The area allows a state the time to judge the nature of the incoming aircraft and take defensive measures if needed.