Voice of America
Date: June 24, 2020
By: Ralph Jennings
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VOA News on China
China Sends 8 Military Planes into Taiwan Airspace; Analysts See Move as Warning to US and Others
By Ralph Jennings
June 24, 2020 05:31 AM
China’s H-6 bomber jets fly in formation past the sun during a parade to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the founding of…
China’s H-6 bomber jets fly in formation past the sun during a parade to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the founding of Communist China in Beijing, Oct. 1, 2019.
Although Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense escorts each aircraft away and alerts the public on an island that has long distrusted China, analysts believe leaders in Beijing are warning people as far away as Washington while helping to train their own troops in case of conflict in Asia.
The U.S. government has saddled China with a 2-year-old trade dispute, accused it of ignoring COVID-19 for too long earlier in the year and sailed its navy vessels in Asian waters to check Chinese expansion.
U.S. naval ships have sailed six times so far this year through the strait separating Taiwan from China, an irritant to Beijing. China claims sovereignty over self-ruled Taiwan and resents other countries for supporting it. The U.S. navy has also carried out four “freedom of navigation operations” in the South China Sea near Taiwan so far in 2020. [FULL STORY]
