China's enormous military drills encircling Taiwan to protest a visit to the island by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has focused global attention on a flashpoint region.

It has also resurrected a host of often confusing geographic terms.

AFP breaks down the two most common -- the ADIZ and the median line.

- ADIZ -

Many nations have so-called air defence identification zones (ADIZ), including the United States, Canada, South Korea, Japan and China.

They are not the same as a country's airspace.

Instead, they encompass a much wider area, in which any foreign aircraft is expected to announce itself to local aviation authorities.

This is intended to allow greater time for a country to identify and respond to potentially hostile aircraft.

Taiwan's ADIZ overlaps with part of China's, and even includes some of the mainland.

Until recently Chinese and Taiwanese military planes largely stayed out of the other side's ADIZ, though occasional incursions did happen.

That began to change about two years ago, as Beijing applied greater military pressure on Taiwan, which it regards as its territory and has vowed to one day take over.

Last year, Taiwan recorded 969 incursions by Chinese warplanes into its ADIZ, according to an AFP database -- more than double the roughly 380 carried out in 2020.

The vast majority of those flights clipped the southwestern corner of Taiwan's ADIZ.

The most aircraft China has sent in a single day is 56, on October 4, 2021.

But the daily drip of incursions is equally important.

Before this week's military drills, Taiwan reported 626 incursions so far this year, an almost 70 percent increase on the same period last year.

The large number of sorties has put Taiwan's air force under immense pressure, and it has suffered a string of fatal accidents in recent years.

- The median line -

The median line is an unofficial but once largely adhered-to border that runs down the middle of the Taiwan Strait, which separates Taiwan and China.

It came about during the Cold War as a way to try and delineate the two opposing sides and reduce the risk of clashes.

No agreement or treaty ever solidified its status. But over the decades it helped keep Taiwan and China's militaries apart.

During times of tension, China would periodically send warships or planes across the line, leading to protests from Taiwan.

But crossings of the median line were generally less common than ADIZ incursions and were seen as more provocative.

Over the last two years, Chinese officials have publicly voiced that in their view the median line does not exist and never has.

There has been a major increase in median line incursions during this week's drills.

Of the 49 aircraft incursions Taiwan reported on Wednesday and Thursday, 44 involved Chinese aircraft crossing the median line.

Taiwan's military on Friday also said Chinese warships had crossed the line but did not give a breakdown.

Strategic ambiguity? The US, Taiwan and China -- a guide
Taipei (AFP) Aug 5, 2022 - US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan has provoked Beijing's ire -- and brought into focus Washington's deliberately ambiguous foreign policy stance toward the democratic, self-ruled island.

Pelosi's pledge Friday that the United States will "not allow" China to isolate Taiwan comes just months after President Joe Biden repeatedly said US forces would defend the island militarily if China attempted to take control of it.

Biden's team have nsisted that Washington's decades-old approach remained unchanged.

Here is a recap of that foreign policy stance and why relations between the United States, China and Taiwan are so delicate:

- Bitter history -

The deep rift between Beijing and Taiwan dates back to China's civil war, which erupted in 1927 and pitted forces aligned with the Communist Party of China against the Nationalist Kuomintang (KMT) army.

Eventually defeated by Mao Zedong's communists, KMT chief Chiang Kai-shek fled to Taiwan, which was still under his control.

From there, Chiang continued to claim the entirety of China -- just as the mainland claimed Taiwan as part of its territory to be re-taken one day, by force if necessary.

For years, both sides still formally claimed to represent all of China, and Taiwan's official name remains the Republic of China, while the mainland is the People's Republic of China

Since the late 1990s, Taiwan has transformed from an autocracy into a vibrant democracy and a distinct Taiwanese identity has emerged.

The current ruling party, led by President Tsai Ing-wen, has pledged to defend Taiwan's sovereignty.

- Strategic ambiguity -

Washington cut formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan in 1979, switching recognition to Beijing as the sole representative of China, with the mainland becoming a major trading partner.

But at the same time, the United States maintained a decisive, if at times delicate, role in supporting Taiwan.

Under a law passed by Congress, the United States is required to sell Taiwan military supplies to ensure its self-defence against Beijing's vastly larger armed forces.

But it has maintained "strategic ambiguity" on whether it would actually intervene militarily, a policy designed both to ward off a Chinese invasion and discourage Taiwan from ever formally declaring independence.

There is now growing bipartisan discussion in Washington over whether a switch to "strategic clarity" is preferable given Beijing's increasingly bellicose approach to cross-strait relations.

Beijing has become much more assertive towards Taiwan under President Xi Jinping and the last two years in particular have seen a surge in incursions into Taiwan's air defence identification zone by Chinese military aircraft.

And Russia's war on Ukraine has heightened fears that China might one day follow through on threats to annex its smaller neighbour.

On Friday, China encircled the island with a series of huge military drills, prompting rebuke from Taipei, the United States and other democracies.

Yet analysts broadly agree that despite all its aggressive posturing, Beijing does not want an active military conflict against the United States and its allies over Taiwan -- just yet.

-'One China' policy -

US policy on Taiwan has always hinged on diplomatic nuance.

In what is termed the "One China policy", Washington recognises Beijing, but only acknowledges the Chinese position that Taiwan is part of China.

It leaves it to the two sides to work out a solution, while opposing any use of force to change the status quo.

In practice, Taiwan enjoys many of the trappings of a full diplomatic relations with the United States.

While there is no US embassy in Taipei, Washington runs a centre called the American Institute in Taiwan.

In the United States, the island's diplomats enjoy the status of other nations' personnel.

Only 13 nations, all in the developing world, and the Vatican still recognise Taiwan.

Beijing has tried hard to stop any international recognition of the island.

It baulks at any use of the word Taiwan, such as when Lithuania allowed Taipei to open a de facto embassy under its own name last year, lest it might lend the island a sense of legitimacy on the global stage.

The United States and a growing number of countries have pushed for Taiwan to be included in UN bodies, such as the World Health Organization.

Related Links
Taiwan News at SinoDaily.com

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Pelosi says US will 'not allow' China to isolate Taiwan; As Taipei issues blockade warnings
Tokyo (AFP) Aug 5, 2022
US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Friday that the United States will "not allow" China to isolate Taiwan, after her visit to the self-ruled island infuriated Beijing. China, which views Taiwan as part of its territory, launched its largest-ever military exercises around the island after Pelosi defied stern threats to become the highest-profile US official to set foot on Taiwanese soil in years. Now in Tokyo on the final leg of her Asian tour, Pelosi did not comment directly on the drills but ar ... read more