Eye on Taiwan: Now, China puts stealth fighter jet J-20B in mass production

According to reports, China has put the stealth bomber the J-20 into mass production even as temperatures rise in the South China Sea with the US.

The stealth fighters were earlier deployed to oversee military activities in the Taiwan Straits where the US has openly let its warships sail.
 

China’s J-20 stealth fighter had passed through the eastern theatre Command with Taiwan in its perimeter in July last year. Amid reports of mass production of the J-20s, the United States announced that it has approved the sale of 105 F-35 stealth aircraft to Japan for an estimated $23.11 billion. 

Last month Taiwan unveiled a new locally-built training jet amid growing tensions with China. 

President Tsai Ing-wen attended a ceremony for the first public flight of the "Brave Eagle" Advanced Jet Trainer (AJT), describing it as a "historic moment". 

Trainers are what pilots learn on before switching to much more expensive fighter jets and the AJT will allow Taiwan to replace its current fleet of obsolete aircraft.

Taiwan lives with the constant threat of invasion by China which views the self-ruled island as part of its territory and has vowed to one day seize it, by force if necessary.

In recent decades Taiwan has found itself out-numbered and out-gunned by China's enormous People's Liberation Army.

The imbalance has been compounded by western governments becoming increasingly wary of selling it advanced weapon systems, fearful of incurring Beijing's wrath.

It has pushed Taiwan to develop its own hardware, including advanced missiles, boats and the new trainer jet.

Beijing has ramped up military, diplomatic and economic pressure since Tsai first took office in 2016 as she has refused to acknowledge that Taiwan is part of "one China".

She won a landslide reelection in January in what was seen as a strong rebuke to China's hardline campaign against the island. 

The unveiling of the AJT comes as Taiwan's ageing fleet of fighter jets are being scrambled at an unprecedented rate.

Chinese jets have entered into Taiwan's air defence identification zone seven times in the last two weeks, according to Taipei's defence ministry.

The island currently has some 300 fighter jets, all in service since the 1990s, including US-made F-16s, French-made Mirage 2000-5s and the locally developed Indigenous Defensive Fighters.

The United States has remained Taiwan's leading unofficial ally and arms supplier, but until recently Taiwan had struggled to buy new fighter jets.

Since the election of US President Donald Trump, Washington has been more willing to sell big ticket items. 

China has ramped up fighter flights and warship crossings near Taiwan or through the Taiwan Strait since Tsai was first elected in 2016, as she has refused to acknowledge that the island is part of "one China".

A spokeswoman for Beijing's Taiwan Affairs Office said the US flight "harms our sovereignty, security and development interests, and violates basic principles of international law and international relations."

The Taiwan Affairs Office is Beijing's top-level body overseeing policy towards the self-governing democratic island, which China considers its own territory to be reunited with the mainland by force if necessary. 
 

After decades of hostile intentions and angry rhetoric, relations between China and Taiwan started improving in the 1980s. China put forward a formula, known as "one country, two systems", under which Taiwan would be given significant autonomy if it accepted Chinese reunification.

The offer was rejected, but Taiwan did relax rules on visits to and investment in China. It also, in 1991, proclaimed the war with the People's Republic of China over.

Beijing was shocked when  Taiwan elected as president Chen Shui-bian, who had openly backed independence in 2000.

In January 2016, Tsai Ing-wen defeated Kuomintang party candidate Eric Chu. Tsai leads the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which leans towards independence from China.

Last year the Trump administration announced it would sell 66 latest generation F-16 jets to Taiwan shortly after another huge military hardware sale including missiles and armoured vehicles. 

The announcement infuriated Beijing, which vowed to sanction companies involved in the sale if it went through.

Last month, China reacted angrily to a US military transport jet's flight over the self-ruled island of Taiwan, calling it an "illegal act" and "serious provocation".