{"id":65100,"date":"2022-01-24T11:26:42","date_gmt":"2022-01-24T11:26:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/uncategorized\/2022\/01\/24\/china-sends-39-warplanes-toward-taiwan-largest-in-new-year\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T14:15:50","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T14:15:50","slug":"china-sends-39-warplanes-toward-taiwan-largest-in-new-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/flashpoints\/2022\/01\/24\/china-sends-39-warplanes-toward-taiwan-largest-in-new-year\/","title":{"rendered":"China sends 39 warplanes toward Taiwan, largest in new year"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

TAIPEI, Taiwan \u2014 China flew 39 warplanes toward Taiwan in its largest such sortie of the new year, amid tensions over the self-ruled island\u2019s future<\/a> and as the U.S. pushes to assert its presence i<\/a>n the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Chinese formation<\/a> Sunday night included 24 J-16 fighter jets and 10 J-10 jets, among other support and electronic warfare aircraft, according to Taiwan\u2019s defense ministry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taiwan\u2019s air force scrambled its own jets and tracked the People\u2019s Liberation Army planes on its air defense radar systems, the ministry said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Chinese sortie came as the U.S. military said that two of its carrier strike groups were sailing on Sunday in the South China Sea, led by USS Carl Vinson and USS Abraham Lincoln. They engaged in anti-submarine, air and combat readiness operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

China\u2019s Ministry of Foreign Affairs declined to comment on why the PLA had flown such a large sortie on Monday, saying it was not a diplomatic matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taiwan and China split during a civil war in 1949, but China claims the island as its own territory. Beijing has used diplomatic and military means to isolate and intimidate the self-ruled island, but the U.S. has continued to support Taiwan by selling it advanced weapons and fighter planes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chinese pilots have been flying towards Taiwan on a near-daily basis in the past year and a half, since Taiwan\u2019s government started publishing the data regularly. The largest sortie was 56 warplanes on a single day last October.<\/p>\n\n\n\t