China is set to stage military drills around Taiwan from Thursday to Sunday to protest Nancy Pelosi’s visit to the island.
The Chinese Defense Ministry released a map of six zones around the island where it plans to conduct air and sea exercises as well as long-range live-fire exercises, as part of what a spokesman described as a “blockade.”
Ships and aircraft have been warned to stay out of the areas during the drills.
The ADIZ: The exercise areas announced by Beijing extend well into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone — a buffer of airspace commonly referred to as an ADIZ — and in some cases encroach on the island’s territorial airspace, an area recognized by international law as extending 12 nautical miles (22.2 kilometers) from shore.
Does Taiwan have its own airspace? Taiwan’s disputed status makes this question hard to answer definitively.
While Taiwan is a self-governing democracy, China insists it has sovereignty over the island and is fiercely opposed to any suggestion that it could be considered an independent country — meaning in Beijing’s eyes, Taiwan’s airspace is essentially China’s airspace.
However, even if “China doesn’t recognize Taiwan, they’ve respected Taiwan’s airspace,” said Drew Thompson, visiting senior research fellow at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore and a former US Defense Department official.
Chinese commercial aviation companies also respected Taiwan’s airspace, Thompson said, recognizing a “convention that effectively treats Taiwan as independent under civil aviation guidelines.”
Most countries in the world do not recognize Taiwan as an independent country — holding diplomatic relations with Beijing rather than Taipei.
Read the full analysis here.
