China’s decision to send fighter jets across the median line of the Taiwan Strait on Sunday was intended to show Beijing’s dissatisfaction over warming Taiwan-US relations, a military expert said yesterday.
Two Chinese People’s Liberation Army Air Force J-11 fighter jets crossed the median line and entered Taiwan’s airspace at 11am on Sunday.
It was the first time since 1999 that the Chinese military had intentionally crossed the median line of the waterway, military sources said.
Chieh Chung (揭仲), a senior assistant research fellow at the National Policy Foundation, a think tank affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), yesterday said that the operation reflected Beijing’s concern over more robust US support for Taiwan.
Foreign media have reported that the US will soon agree to Taiwan’s request to buy more than 60 F-16s, which would be the first US sale of new aircraft since 1992.
In addition, the two nations are holding a series of events this year in Taipei and Washington to mark the 40th anniversary of the Taiwan Relations Act, which serves as the basis of unofficial relations between Taiwan and the US.
These examples of warming ties have angered China and it responded by sending fighter jets over the median line, contravening a long-held understanding on the issue, Chieh said.
“It was meant to draw a red line, to tell the US not to ever cross it again,” he said.
A similar maneuver last occurred in 1999, when then-president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) commented that Taiwan and China have a “special state-to-state” relationship.
That also angered Beijing, which later held exercises in the Taiwan Strait and sent military aircraft across the median line, Chieh said.
National Chung Cheng University Institute of Strategic and International Affairs assistant professor Lin Ying-yu (林穎佑) said that the median line issue also reflected a shift in the cross-strait military balance.
The air force had full control over the Taiwan Strait for decades, which made it impossible for Chinese jets to cross the line, but that has changed as Beijing has gained the upper hand in the cross-strait military balance, he said.
The concept of the median line was created in 1955 by US general Benjamin Davis Jr, commander of the US’ 13th Air Force, which was then based in Taipei, Chinese-language Military Link Magazine editor-in-chief Chen Wei-hao (陳維浩) said.
Since then, it has been very dangerous for Chinese aircraft to cross the line, because it would put them at a serious disadvantage as they would be targeted by Taiwanese fighters and radar, he said, adding that therefore, such intrusions rarely occurred.
Previous intrusions only lasted briefly and mainly occurred due to poor weather conditions, and on such occasions Chinese jets often returned to their side of the Taiwan Strait immediately after been warned by their Taiwanese counterparts, Chen said.
However, Sunday’s incident did not fall into that category and was a clear provocation, he said.
Chinese aircraft returned to China’s side of the median line only after receiving multiple radio warnings, the Ministry of National Defense said.
The intrusion triggered a 12-minute standoff between Taiwanese and Chinese warplanes, government officials said.
EIGHT KILLED: Three of the four juvenile victims were children of the man suspected of setting the fire at the tire repair shop after a family dispute Four of the eight people killed in a fire in Hsinchu City on Wednesday night were children and the other four were adults who died while trying to rescue the children from the second floor of the burning building, the city’s Fire Bureau said yesterday. Fire Bureau First Corps commander Chang Chih-chih (張智智) told a news conference that the fire at Zheng Yi Tire Repair Shop on Dongda Road might have been intentionally set by the owner’s son, Chen Yen-hsiang (陳彥翔), who earlier had an argument with other family members. Chen allegedly bought gasoline and lit a fire near four motorcycles inside
FIFA World Cup host Qatar has corrected an online application form that listed Taiwan as part of China, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday. Following the ministry’s protest on Wednesday, “Taiwan” replaced “Taiwan, Province of China” on a dropdown menu on the Web site to apply for a Hayya Card, an identification card all World Cup spectators are required to obtain, ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) said. “We express our appreciation to the event organizers for their swift response in making the correction and safeguarding the rights of our nation’s fans,” she added. The card also serves as an entry visa for
ALARM GROWS: US officials are concerned that China’s claim that the Taiwan Strait is an internal waterway is a deliberate effort to muddy the legal status of Taiwan US President Joe Biden’s administration has decided to reject a vague new assertion by China that the Taiwan Strait is not “international waters” and is increasingly concerned the stance could result in more frequent challenges at sea for Taiwan, people familiar with the matter said. Chinese officials have made such remarks repeatedly in meetings with US counterparts over the past few months. In the past, while China regularly protested US military moves in the Taiwan Strait, the legal status of the waters was not a regular talking point in meetings with US officials. The timing of the assertion is causing alarm within the
NEW TRAVEL REGIME: The CECC advised people to stay put in between quarantine and self-disease prevention, but said that they could apply for a location change Inbound travelers who need to change locations for the four-day self-disease prevention period following their three-day quarantine must apply with their local government, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday. The “one person per household” principle would remain in place under the new “3+4” quarantine policy, which was implemented yesterday, the center said. More than 4,500 incoming travelers were expected yesterday, including more than 980 people who entered Taiwan in the early morning, said Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞), the CECC’s acting spokesman and medical response division deputy head. Lo said many people had asked the CECC whether
RSS