Four Chinese anti-submarine helicopters were detected in Taiwan’s air defense identification zone over the past three days, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday.
One Z-9 helicopter was detected on Sunday, two were detected on Monday and one was detected yesterday, all in the southeastern part of the zone, the ministry said.
The zones are unilaterally declared areas in which militaries seek identification and traffic control data from craft within them. They do not define territorial airspace.
Photo: screen grab from the Ministry of National Defense Web site
Retired air force lieutenant general Chang Yen-ting (張延廷) said that the Z-9s were dispatched by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) on training missions.
The helicopters usually operate at low altitudes to detect submarines, Chang said.
The PLA has expanded its anti-submarine training from two to three dimensions, including air assets as well as submarines, he said.
The PLA had also expanded its military activity from waters southwest of Taiwan to the air and sea southeast of the nation, he added.
Wang Kun-yi (王崑義), head of the Taiwan International Strategic Studies Society, said that the PLA’s activities in the zone might be as much to send a message to the US and Japan as they were to intimidate Taiwan.
If a war were to break out in the Taiwan Strait, the US and Japan would probably help to defend Taiwan or intervene, with military assets from the two nations seeking to land in eastern Taiwan, Wang said.
The PLA’s drills to the east of Taiwan send a message about China’s anti-access and area-denial capabilities, which would limit intervention and deterrence capabilities of the US and its regional allies and partners, he said.
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