Taiwan reports large incursion by Chinese air force
The presence of so many Chinese combat aircraft on this mission - Taiwan said it was made up of eight nuclear-capable H-6K bombers and four J-16 fighter jets - is unusual.
By Reuters, January 23, 2021
Chengdu J-20 stealth fighter jets of Chinese
People's Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force perform with open weapon bays
during the China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition, or
Zhuhai Airshow, in Zhuhai, Guangdong province, China November 11, 2018. (photo credit: STRINGER/ REUTERS)
Eight Chinese
bomber planes and four fighter jets entered the southwestern corner of
Taiwan's air defence identification zone on Saturday, and Taiwan's air
force deployed missiles to "monitor" the incursion, the island's Defence
Ministry said.
China,
which claims Taiwan as its own territory, has conducted almost daily
flights over the waters between the southern part of Taiwan and the
Taiwan-controlled Pratas Islands in the South China Sea in recent
months.
However they have generally consisted of just one or two reconnaissance aircraft.
The
presence of so many Chinese combat aircraft on this mission - Taiwan
said it was made up of eight nuclear-capable H-6K bombers and four J-16
fighter jets - is unusual.
A
map provided by Taiwan's Defence Ministry showed that the Chinese
aircraft, which also included a Y-8 anti-submarine aircraft, flew over
the same waters where the most recent Chinese missions have been taking
place near the Pratas Islands, though still well away from mainland
Taiwan.
Taiwan's
air force warned away the Chinese aircraft and deployed missiles to
monitor them, the ministry added, using standard wording for how it
responds to such activities.
"Airborne
alert sorties had been tasked, radio warnings issued and air defence
missile systems deployed to monitor the activity," it said in a brief
statement.
There
was no immediate comment from China. In the past China has said it has
been carrying out exercises to defend the country's sovereignty and
security.
Beijing has watched with growing concern increasing US support for democratic Taiwan, especially during Donald Trump's administration which left office on Wednesday.
Last
year during visits by senior US officials to Taipei Chinese aircraft
briefly crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait, which normally
serves as an unofficial buffer.
The flight by the Chinese bombers and fighters on Saturday came just days after Joe Biden assumed the US presidency.
Emily
Horne, spokeswoman for the White House National Security Council, said
the US commitment to Taiwan was "rock-solid" after the island's de facto
ambassador in Washington, Hsiao Bi-khim, attended Biden's swearing-in
on Wednesday.
Sputnik One says: This is a deliberate provocation by America's Chinese Communist enemy to test how the nominally pro-Chinese Biden Administration will react after it failed to react to the recent upsurge of terror attacks in Iraq by Iranian backed Shia militias & ISIS who are now being supported by Iran.
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