Today’s world is one of building geopolitical tension and complexity; one in which all but the most geopolitically minded may be dizzied by the ever-changing web of which nation is on the verge of war with another, be it the border tensions of Eastern Europe or the ever-escalating South China sea. 

One situation that has moved to the forefront of international conflicts is the Chinese government’s various incursions and threats against Taiwan. 

First, a bit of history. From 1927-1949, China fought a civil war between Communist and Anti-Communist forces, with the Anti-Communist forces losing. The Anti Communist forces then escaped to the island of Taiwan and formed their own government, known as the Republic of China or ROC. Ever since the exiling of the ROC, they have desired to one day take the mainland, and conversely, the mainland has wanted to retake the island. 

While for the past decades, hostilities against the ROC by China have remained mostly rhetoric and diplomatic threats, the threat of true conflict is looming. China, in the past decade, has been not only greatly modernizing its military and training it specifically for amphibious invasions, such as what would be necessary to take the island; but additionally acting as an extremely aggressive expansionist power in the South China Sea, going as far as to build artificial islands in the sea as to claim oceanic territory. 

This on its own would obviously cause anxieties in the ROC, however, on top of this, the Chinese airforce has made repeated and consistent incursions into ROC airspace as an intimidation tactic. These activities peaked in early October of this year, where, according to CNN, up to 56 military aircraft, containing at least 12 nuclear-capable bombers and tens of fighters, flew into ROC airspace in one day alone.