China is trying to wear out Taiwan's Air Force by incursions, says defence minister

Taiwan's defence minister said on Thursday that the People's Liberation Army hasmounted thousands of incursions into the island’s defense zone this yeardue to which ithas exhausted 8 per cent of its defence budget.

Mainland China’s repeated military incursions into Taiwan's air defence zone are meant to drain the island’s air force and establish the PLA as a regular presence in the area.

China, which claims democraticTaiwanas its own territory, has stepped up its military activity near the island, responding to what itcalls "collusion" betweenTaiwanand the United States.

Earlier, the United Statesnational security adviser on Wednesday cautioned Chinaagainst any attempt to take Taiwan by force.

He reminded China that the United States is required by law to provideTaiwanwith the means to defend itself and pointed out any attempt an ''amphibious landing'' would be problematic due toto the 100-mile (160-km) distance between the countries.

China has been angered at increased USsupport forTaiwan, including visits by senior USgovernment officials and ramped up arms sales.

In the past few weeks, Chinese fighter jets have crossed the mid line of theTaiwanStrait, which normally serves as an unofficial buffer zone, and flown multiple missions intoTaiwan's southwestern air defence identification zone.

Speaking at parliament,TaiwanDefence Minister Yen De-fa said to the air force had scrambled 2,972 times against Chinese aircraft this year at a cost of T$25.5 billion ($886.49 million).

"Recently the pressure has been great. To say otherwise would be deceiving people," Yen said, without giving a comparison figure for last year.

He clarified that a figure of 4,132 air force missions this year, as provided in a ministry parliamentary briefing paper, included training and regular patrol missions.

Yen said that the armed forces would this month carry out their own drills offTaiwan's southwest coast, though they would not be live fire.

Taiwan's armed forces are well-trained and well-equipped but are dwarfed by those of China's, andTaiwan's Defence Ministry has previously acknowledged the strain the repeated Chinese drills were placing on them.

Taiwanis in the process of revamping its fighter fleet.

The United States last year approved an $8 billion sale of F-16 fighter jets toTaiwan, a deal that would bring the island's total number of the aircraft to more than 200, the largest F-16 fleet in Asia.