The air force this month started issuing Chinese-English bilingual radio warnings to expel Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft that fly into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ), a senior military official said on July 9.
Air Force Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Wang Te-yang (王德揚) said the decision was made after considering three factors: enemy threat, the global situation and aviation safety.
Previously the air force only used Mandarin when intercepting PLA aircraft that fly into the ADIZ because both sides use it as their official language.
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of National Defense
An ADIZ is a self-declared area in which a country claims the right to identify, locate and control approaching foreign aircraft, but is not part of its territorial airspace as defined by international law.
Wang made the confirmation a day after a private-run social media page titled “Taiwan ADIZ” noticed and publicized the change.
A transcript, which the page said was recorded during an exchange between the air force and a PLA helicopter on July 7, showed that a member of the air force said: “ROC [Republic of China] Air Force on guard, attention, PLA aircraft over west of Taiwan, you have entered our airspace, influence our flight safety, get away.”
The social media page said it believed this was the first time the air force used English as well as Chinese when expelling Chinese military aircraft.
The page said the bilingual warning could be deployed to warn other foreign vessels and aircraft operating in the region.
The page is maintained by a team of enthusiasts who track military movements around Taiwan.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wang Ting-yu (王定宇), a convener of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, told local media that he believes the decision to add English to the air force’s radio warning was made to follow common practice while operating in international airspace, given that English is a global language.
It is also meant to place the Taiwan issue, which previously concerned only the two sides of the Strait, on the world stage, while highlighting the sovereignty of Taiwan in its airspace, the lawmaker said.
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