At least 18 Chinese military aircraft yesterday flew into the nation’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) on the second day of a US delegation’s visit, the Ministry of National Defense said, adding that the military responded by deploying an air defense missile system to monitor their activities.
A delegation led by US Undersecretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy and the Environment Keith Krach on Thursday started a three-day visit to Taiwan.
The ministry from Thursday started publicizing the actions of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in Taiwan’s ADIZ on its Web site and Twitter.
Photo: Yu Tai-lang, Taipei Times
According to ministry reports, 18 PLA aircraft were spotted in the nation’s southwest, west and northwest ADIZ as of yesterday morning, including two H-6 bombers, and eight J-16, four J-11 and four J-10 fighters.
The J-11, J-10 and some of the J-16 fighters were seen crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait, while the H-6 bombers and other J-16 fighters were spotted flying in the nation’s southwest ADIZ and north of the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島), the ministry said.
The aircraft that crossed the median line were about 68km from Hsinchu, the military said.
Photo: Yu Tai-lang, Taipei Times
The ministry issued radio warnings, sent fighters and used air defense missile systems to track their movements, it added.
The military issued radio warnings at least 24 times and scrambled fighter jets more than 10 times, according to observations by military enthusiasts.
When asked about the matter at the Legislative Yuan yesterday, Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said that China should take responsibility as a major world power and quickly contain the COVID-19 pandemic that originated in its country.
Photo courtesy of Ministry of National Defense
Instead, China frequently threatens Taiwan with military drills or by dispatching aircraft in the Strait, which shows the world who is the real “troublemaker” and lets Taiwanese know who is the real enemy, Su said.
Taiwanese, no matter their political affiliation, should unite in the face of a common enemy, he said.
Presidential Office spokesman Xavier Chang (張惇涵) called on China to restrain itself, adding that as a regional power, Beijing should work to maintain regional peace.
In response to questions about a PLA announcement yesterday morning that the PLA Eastern Theater Command would start combat exercises near the Taiwan Strait, the ministry said in a statement that it would continue to monitor PLA activities and safeguard national security.
The ministry also called on China to restrain its activities in the region and prevent an escalation of cross-strait tensions.
China’s military intimidation has drawn outrage from Taiwanese, and the tactics are condemned by popular public opinion here, the ministry added.
Additional reporting by Chou Hsiang-yun and Lin Chia-nan
TAIPEI REACTIONS: Joanne Ou decried China’s ‘gangster diplomacy,’ while MOFA said its Fiji counterpart dealt fairly with the incident and protected the trade office’s rights The world should denounce the actions of Chinese embassy staffers in Fiji against a Taiwanese diplomat during a National Day celebration in Suva, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday as it thanked the Fijian government for its help after the Oct. 8 incident. Two Chinese diplomats tried to force their way into a celebration held by the Taipei Trade Office in Fiji at the Grand Pacific Hotel in Suva on Oct. 8, and a Taiwanese diplomat who tried to stop them taking photographs suffered a head injury. MOFA spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) told a news briefing that the ministry
The US, Japan and Australia conducted trilateral naval exercises in the South China Sea on Monday, the US Seventh Fleet announced yesterday. It was their fifth joint operations this year in the fleet’s area of operations, it said in a statement. The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS John S. McCain joined the JS Kirisame of the Japan Maritime Self Defense Force and the Royal Australian Navy’s HMAS Arunta. The Arunta’s commanding officer, Commander Troy Duggan, said that Australia was continuing to build on its already close relationship with Japan and the US. “This activity is a valuable and important opportunity for all three nations,”
ONGOING PROBE: A former Military Intelligence Bureau colonel, major general and another colonel, as well as five other people, have been questioned by prosecutors The Taipei District Court yesterday ordered that a retired colonel from the Military Intelligence Bureau (MIB) calling himself Taiwan’s “first special agent” be detained and held incommunicado as part of an ongoing investigation into espionage allegations targeting at least three former bureau officials. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office was seeking to detain former MIB colonel Chang Chao-jan (張超然) over his alleged involvement in introducing retired agents to Chinese national security authorities and passing confidential documents to China. Chang’s actions, if proven, would contravene the National Security Act (國家安全法), which carries a prison term of three to 10 years, and the National Intelligence
Seabed waste off the west coast is 1.5 times higher than the global average, with the mouth of the Tamsui River (淡水河) nearly 90 times dirtier, the environmental consultancy IndigoWaters (澄洋環境顧問) said yesterday. The firm in September last year began collaborating with local oceanographers on Taiwan’s first survey of seabed waste off the west coast, collecting 6,000 samples from near the mouths of eight rivers and conducting 215 inspections. Of the samples, 83.3 percent were found to contain trash, the group said. Based on the survey, every square kilometer of seabed had about 121,074 pieces of trash weighing 102kg, IndigoWaters chief executive Yen
RSS