The Chinese military increased flights near Taiwan by 300 percent in the last five months, Gen. Kevin Schneider, commander of the U.S. Air Forces in the Indo-Pacific Command, told NBC News in an exclusive interview on Friday.
“Whether it’s coming into the air defense identification zone or crossing the center line within the Taiwan Strait, since the inauguration we have seen a 300% increase in those air activities,” Schneider said, as reported by NBC News.
Schneider said that the People’s Libertarian Air Force activities have “increased dramatically” since the inauguration of Taiwan’s president, Lai Ching-te, in May, NBC News reported.
This comes as Taiwan said an invasion from China is a serious possibility, including concern about a possible invasion in 2027, but whether China will carry out an attack remains unclear. Chinese President Xi Jinping has told his forces to be ready for a potential attack — but it does not mean it will happen then.
According to figures from Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense, which NBC News compiled, China “violated” Taiwan’s air defense zone more than 330 times from May 2023 to November 2023. From May 2024 to November 2024, China did the same thing at least 1,085 times, according to NBC News.
Schneider, who oversees more than 40,000 airmen in Japan, South Korea, Hawaii, Alaska and Guam, said that “the biggest challenge he faces comes from Beijing,” as reported by NBC News.
“It’s the behaviors that have gone along with that,” he said, as highlighted by NBC News, “it’s the bullying, the aggressiveness.”
The Hill has contacted the Chinese embassy in Washington, D.C.