Taiwan has sent fighter jets to chase away Chinese military aircraft 4 times in a little over a week

• Taiwan has sent fighters out four times in a little over a week to respond to air defense identification zone penetration by Chinese military aircraft, Reuters reported Wednesday.
• In the past nine days, China has sent J-10 fighter aircraft, Y-8 aircraft, and Su-30 fighters into the ADIZ, prompting Taiwan air force to respond.
• China, which has not renounced the use of force as an option to achieve reunification, regularly sends military aircraft near Taiwan.

Taiwan has scrambled fighters four times over the past nine days to chase away Chinese military aircraft approaching the island, Reuters reported Wednesday, citing Taiwan's military.

The latest incident occurred Wednesday morning, when a Chinese J-10 fighter jet and a Y-8, certain variants of which can be used to conduct surveillance missions, penetrated Taiwan's air defense identification zone.

Taiwan's air force said that patrolling fighters issued a verbal warning to the Chinese aircraft, which then "immediately left" the area.

On Tuesday, Taiwan's air force "drove away" a Chinese fighter plane that entered the ADIZ. The incident followed two similar ones last week — one last Tuesday involving several Su-30 fighters and another last Friday involving a Y-8 aircraft.

The flight last Tuesday coincided with a US C-40 military transport aircraft flight over Taiwan, which was perceived in China as a show of support for the self-ruled island.

The US Navy has conducted at least seven Taiwan Strait transits this year, as well as regular freedom-of-navigation operations in the South China Sea, where there has been an uptick in military activity and, occasionally, confrontation.

Reed Werner, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for Southeast Asia, told Fox News last month that there have been "at least nine" concerning incidents involving Chinese fighter jets and US aircraft in the skies above the contested waterway since mid-March.

There was also at least one "unsafe and unprofessional" situation involving the Chinese navy.

As it does over the South China Sea, China claims indisputable sovereignty over Taiwan, opposing its autonomy. The latest Chinese military aircraft flights near Taiwan are not inconsistent with past Chinese behavior, which has regularly involved flying bombers, fighter jets, and airborne early warning and control aircraft near the island.

China has a fraught relationship with Taiwan, and it has not renounced the use of force as an option to achieve its goal of reunification, although it is not the preferred course of action.

"If the possibility for peaceful reunification is lost, the people's armed forces will, with the whole nation, including the people of Taiwan, take all necessary steps to resolutely smash any separatist plots or actions," Gen. Li Zuocheng, chief of the Joint Staff Department and member of the Central Military Commission, said just last month.

"We do not promise to abandon the use of force," the general said, "and we reserve the option to take all necessary measures to stabilize and control the situation in the Taiwan Strait."