China sends 39 warplanes toward Taiwan, largest in new year

TAIPEI, Taiwan — China flew 39 warplanes toward Taiwan in its largest such sortie of the new year, amid tensions over the self-ruled island’s future and as the U.S. pushes to assert its presence i n the region.

The Chinese formation Sunday night included 24 J-16 fighter jets and 10 J-10 jets, among other support and electronic warfare aircraft, according to Taiwan’s defense ministry.

Taiwan’s air force scrambled its own jets and tracked the People’s Liberation Army planes on its air defense radar systems, the ministry said.

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.

China’s 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.

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.

Chinese pilots have been flying towards Taiwan on a near-daily basis in the past year and a half, since Taiwan’s government started publishing the data regularly. The largest sortie was 56 warplanes on a single day last October.

The activity has generally been in the air space southwest of the island and falls into a zone that Taiwan’s military says it monitors out of national security considerations.

Tensions have been high since Taiwanese citizens elected Tsai Ing-wen as president in 2016, to which Beijing responded by cutting off previously established communications with the island’s government. Tsai’s predecessor was friendly to China and had endorsed Beijing’s claim that the two are part of a single Chinese nation.

The U.S. regularly carries out exercises in the South China Sea in what it calls freedom of navigation operations, in line with international law.

Associated Press video producer Liu Zheng in Beijing contributed to this report.

台北，台湾——在围绕台湾未来走向的紧张局势以及美国在该地区加强存在之际，中国出动了39架战机飞向台湾，这是新年以来规模最大的一次此类出动。

据台湾国防部称，周日晚间中国出动的编队包括24架歼-16战斗机和10架歼-10战斗机，以及其他支援和电子战飞机。

台湾国防部表示，台湾空军紧急出动战机，并通过防空雷达系统追踪解放军飞机。

就在中国进行此次海上巡逻之际，美国军方宣布，其两个航母打击群于周日在南海执行任务，分别由“卡尔·文森”号和“亚伯拉罕·林肯”号航母领衔。这两个航母打击群进行了反潜、防空和战备演练。

中国外交部拒绝就解放军周一为何进行如此大规模的飞行任务发表评论，称这不是外交问题。

1949年内战期间，台湾与中国大陆分裂，但中国大陆声称台湾是其领土的一部分。北京一直运用外交和军事手段孤立和恐吓这个自治岛屿，但美国则持续向台湾出售先进武器和战斗机，以示支持。

自台湾政府开始定期公布相关数据以来，过去一年半的时间里，中国飞行员几乎每天都驾驶战机飞向台湾。去年10月，单日出动战机数量最多，达到56架。

该活动通常发生在台湾岛西南部的空域，属于台湾军方出于国家安全考虑而监控的区域。

自2016年台湾民众选举蔡英文为总统以来，双方关系一直高度紧张。北京方面随即切断了此前与台湾政府建立的沟通渠道。蔡英文的前任对中国大陆较为友好，并支持北京关于两岸同属一个中华民族的说法。

美国经常在南海进行所谓的“航行自由行动”，这符合国际法。

美联社驻北京视频制作人刘铮对本报道亦有贡献。