May 19,2008: Taiwan has accused China of increasing its military activity in the 180 kilometers straits that separate Taiwan from China. In the last ten years, China has gone from a little over 400 fighter sorties over the straits each year, to nearly 2,000. In the last three years, there have been twenty instances of Chinese spy ships moving into Taiwans territorial waters. There has been more Chinese submarine activity around Taiwan, although, the Taiwanese would not give any specifics on this. The Taiwanese believe the Chinese are testing Taiwanese defenses regularly and more intensively, as well as giving their pilots and crews vital training. This would be a necessary prelude to an attack on the island nation. It's also a useful method of applying political and diplomatic pressure on Taiwan, which is a democracy, and has many citizens who support closer political relationships with China, not a declaration of independence.