Sharp drop in Chinese military aircraft near Taiwan puzzling

TAIPEI (AFP) — Taiwan has not detected a single Chinese military aircraft around the island for nine of the past 10 days, leaving experts puzzling over the reasons for the dramatic reduction in sorties.

China claims Taiwan is part of its territory and has threatened to use force to bring the island under its control.

Beijing has stepped up military pressure on Taiwan in recent years, deploying fighter jets and warships around the island on a near-daily basis.

But since 28 February, only two Chinese aircraft have been recorded in a single 24-hour period near Taiwan, according to an Agence France-Presse tally of figures released daily by the defense ministry.

That compares with 86 for the same period last year. It is the longest stretch of no detections since AFP began recording the figures in 2024.

An average of six Chinese warships have been spotted on a daily basis around the island in the past 10 days, which was the same as last year.

Chinese military sorties around Taiwan also fell around 42 percent in January and February compared with the same period last year. The number of warships was about 4.5 percent lower than a year ago.

Experts have been speculating about the reasons for the sharp drop in Chinese aircraft deployments, with possibilities ranging from China’s annual political gathering, known as the “two sessions,” currently underway in Beijing, to its recent military purges.

Other reasons include US President Donald Trump’s scheduled trip to Beijing later this month to meet his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, and the Middle East conflict.