The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) sent a helicopter across the median line of the Taiwan Strait to traverse a restricted flight zone east of the line for the first time on Monday, introducing two new “gray zone” tactics in a single day, a researcher said yesterday.
Four PLA aircraft entered Taiwan’s air defense identification zone in the 24 hours ending at 6am yesterday, the Ministry of National Defense said in its daily report on PLA activities.
Among them were PLA helicopters and uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAV), which were detected operating around the median line of the Taiwan Strait, as well as in the northern and southeastern air defense identification zones between 10:20am and 7:40pm on Monday, the report said.
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of National Defense
The ministry also detected five navy ships and six other government vessels operating around Taiwan, it added.
It was the first time a PLA helicopter was detected traversing a restricted zone east of the line, said Chieh Chung (揭仲), a researcher at the government-funded Institute for National Defense and Security Research.
While Chinese incursions have become increasingly routine, the latest activity could be linked to joint helicopter-drone exercises focused on integrated reconnaissance-and-strike tactics, as well as assault transport, Chieh said.
The helicopter not only crossed the median line, but carried out a prolonged flight within Taiwan’s R9 restricted zone east of the line, following a route roughly parallel to the median line, Chieh said.
This appeared to be the first time a PLA helicopter had crossed the line in the narrower section of the Taiwan Strait between central and northern Taiwan since Beijing abandoned a long-standing custom of not crossing the line in August 2022, he said.
It was the first time that a PLA helicopter traversed a restricted zone east of the median line, meaning that two new “gray zone” tactics debuted on a single day, he said.
While PLA helicopters have frequently flown around Taiwan since August 2022, many of them are ship-based aircraft, including two detected on Monday operating outside the contiguous zone to the north and southeast, he said.
Based on information released by the ministry, it is unclear whether the PLA helicopter detected crossing the median line was maritime or land-based, he said.
If the aircraft was a PLA army aviation helicopter, the development would be particularly concerning, as the R9 zone is the closest of the four restricted areas east of the median line to northern Taiwan, he said.
Such activity could signal that the PLA is beginning to conduct irregular training missions in the Taiwan Strait and east of the median line to prepare for supporting maneuvers in an invasion scenario, he said.
The PLA has conducted increasing numbers of cross-strait assault drills involving coordinated helicopter and UAV operations as part of preparations for a possible attack on Taiwan in the past few years, he said.
The exercises focused primarily on integrated reconnaissance-and-strike missions and follow-on transport operations, he said, adding that such training had not been observed in the Taiwan Strait before.
That a helicopter and a UAV operated east of the median line and within the military-designated R9 restricted zone raises questions about whether the PLA was conducting its first coordinated helicopter-drone training exercise in the area, he said.
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