The air force yesterday warned off several Chinese fighter jets that briefly entered Taiwan’s air defense identification zone to its southwest, the Ministry of National Defense said.
The Su-30 fighters, some of China’s most advanced jets, were given verbal warnings to leave and Taiwanese air force jets “drove away” the intruders, the ministry said in a short statement issued at 12:30pm.
“The defense ministry is fully aware of the situation in the waters and airspace surrounding Taiwan and is taking measures to protect our territory,” it said.
Photo: CNA
It did not provide other details regarding the intrusion, such as how many Chinese fighter jets were involved or the time of the incident.
Taiwan has complained that China has stepped up military activities in the past few months, menacing Taiwan even as the world deals with the COVID-19 pandemic.
China says such exercises are nothing unusual.
The US has also stepped up its military activities near Taiwan, with semi-regular navy voyages through the Taiwan Strait.
A US C-40A Clipper transport plane also flew over the nation yesterday, the ministry said in a separate statement, following revelations by air radar trackers such as Golf9 and AirNav RadarBox.
“The US aircraft entered our airspace after making a prior application in accordance with proper procedures. It did not land at any of our airports,” it said.
Images posted on Golf9’s Twitter feed and AirNav RadarBox’s Web site showed that the US Navy transport plane flew in a southerly direction over Taiwan’s west coast yesterday morning after taking off from Okinawa.
Golf9 described the US plane’s flight path as “rare,” because US military aircraft usually only operate over international waters or in airspace around Taiwan.
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