Donald Trump on china: what the evidence says · JRE #2219
SUBJECT: CHINA
Not a true/false call. Every claim is logged with its sources; read the exhibits below.
The day I left, they flew 28 bombers over the middle of. Of Taiwan. 28 bombers. And it's the apple of his eye.
What the evidence says 01 / RECORD
Contemporaneous reporting confirms a Chinese military incursion into Taiwan's air defense identification zone occurred around this time, but the details differ from Trump's account. According to Taiwan's defense ministry as reported by the BBC, 8 Chinese bombers (plus 4 fighter jets and 1 anti-submarine aircraft, 13 aircraft total) entered Taiwan's southwestern ADIZ on Saturday, January 23, 2021, followed by a second wave of 15 aircraft (12 fighters, 2 anti-submarine planes, 1 reconnaissance plane, no bombers) on Sunday, January 24. The combined two-day total was 28 aircraft, but only 8 of those were bombers, and the incursions occurred three to four days after Joe Biden's January 20, 2021 inauguration, not on the day Trump left office. No contemporaneous report describes 28 bombers flying over Taiwan on January 20, 2021. The claim conflates a two-day aircraft total (28, mostly fighters) with a bomber-specific count, and misstates the timing relative to Trump's exit from office.