The air force yesterday confirmed that two Chinese jets — a J-10 and a J-11 — flew into the nation’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) before being chased away by its patrolling aircraft.
It was the fifth time Chinese jets had entered Taiwan’s southwestern zone this month and the third time since Tuesday, the air force said.
A US Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker refueling aircraft yesterday was sighted on the periphery of Taiwan’s northeastern zone, while a USAF RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft crossed the Bashi Channel to the southwest of the zone, the air force said, adding that it was looking into whether the appearance of US and Chinese aircraft in the same area was intentional or a coincidence.
Photo: Screen grab from Twitter
The information was provided by China’s South China Sea Strategic Situation Probing Initiative on its Twitter feed.
A growing number of US and Chinese aircraft flying over Taiwanese airspace indicates escalating US-China tensions in the region, Taiwanese military analysts said yesterday, adding that the timing of the Chinese incursion coincided with the appearance of the US aircraft.
The air force later yesterday said in a statement that it had detected the two Chinese fighters entering the nation’s southwestern airspace in the morning, but they left after being warned, adding that the situation in the nation’s airspace remains normal.
Previously, Chinese J-10 fighters and a Y-8 transport plane were sighted off the southwest of the nation’s zone on Wednesday, while a US C-40A transport plane was sighted passing over Keelung and exiting Taiwanese airspace off the coast of Tainan on Tuesday last week, the air force said.
Two US KC-135s flew over the East China Sea and the Bashi Channel on Tuesday, it added.
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