China Sends Record 56 Warplanes Near Taiwan, Continuing 4 Days of Incursions

Read MoreBeijing sent 56 fighter jets into Taiwan’s air defense zone on Oct. 4 in its largest show of strength on record toward the self-ruled island that it claims as its own. The move also marked the fourth day of sustained military harassment against Taiwan that has seen nearly 150 warplanes fly into the zone. The latest incursion included 34 J-16 fighters and 12 H-6 bombers, according to Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense. An additional four Chinese J-16s appeared in the southwestern part of Taiwan’s “Air Defense Identification Zone”–the buffer area outside the island’s airspace. For more than a year, tensions across the Taiwan Strait have been intensifying as Beijing heightened its military and diplomatic pressure on the island. The regime’s air force has made over 500 military incursions over the nine months this year, compared to 380 in 2020, according to Taiwanese authorities. The latest cluster of maneuvers began on …