PLA warplane enters Taiwanese military target zone minutes before drill begins
- The island’s air force scrambles jets to shadow 11 aircraft which included fighters, bombers and surveillance planes
- One Y-8 electric warfare aircraft is said to have entered the firing target zone, ignoring warnings that a military exercise was about to begin
A PLA Y-8 aircraft entered a Taiwanese military target zone minutes before a firing exercise was due to begin, according to local media reports. Photo: Handout
Cross-strait tensions escalated on Tuesday with 11 PLA warplanes entering Taiwan’s air defence zone minutes before the island’s military was about to start a flight-level drill in the same area.
The six fighter jets, two bombers and three surveillance aircraft flew into Taiwan’s southwest air defence identification zone (ADIZ) between 9.30am and 10.22am. The Taiwanese air force responded by scrambling jets to shadow the PLA warplanes, issuing radio warnings and deploying air defence missile systems to monitor their activity, the island’s defence ministry said.
According to a public announcement by the island’s navy, a joint flight level drill with the Taiwanese air force was due to begin in the same area at 10.30am and last until 2.30pm on Tuesday afternoon.
Several local news media outlets, including SET TV, said a PLA Y-8 electric warfare aircraft had entered the firing target zone, ignoring the announcement warning aircraft and vessels to stay away from the area where the island’s military was staging the drill.
The SET TV report quoted local aircraft spotting website Southwest Airspace of Taiwan which said another Y-8 anti-submarine aircraft had crossed the Bashi Channel into an area off the Jiupeng missile base, test site for the island’s top weapons maker the National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology.
According to the website, the incursion also coincided with a US naval mission involving an EP-3E spy plane and P-8A anti-submarine aircraft near Taiwan’s southwest ADIZ and the Bashi Channel.
China has been staging an extensive air and sea military exercise near the island in response to “provocations” by Taiwan independence forces, which it has described as the biggest security risk across the Taiwan Strait.
Shi Yi, a colonel and spokesman for the PLA’s Eastern Theatre Command, said China had sent anti-submarine aircraft, fighter jets and warships to the southwest and southeast of Taiwan to test the joint operation’s capabilities.
“Recently, the United States and Taiwan have repeatedly provoked and sent serious wrong signals, severely infringed upon China’s sovereignty and severely undermined the peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait, which has become the biggest source of security risks across the Taiwan Strait,” Shi said.
“This exercise is a necessary action based on the current security situation across the Taiwan Strait and the need to safeguard national sovereignty.”
Earlier this month, the US State Department approved the potential sale of 40 155mm M109A6 medium self-propelled howitzer artillery systems to Taiwan in a deal worth US$750 million.
This deal, which came after arms sales last year that included drones and coastal missile defences meant to upgrade the island’s capabilities and discourage a Chinese invasion, was the Biden administration’s first approved arms sales Taiwan since taking office.
The package would include the howitzers, 1,698 precision guidance kits for munitions, spares, training, ground stations and upgrades for Taiwan’s previous generation of howitzers, according to the Pentagon.
Last week, Taiwan and the US agreed to hold regular talks on cooperation between their coastguards, which some Taiwanese media said could include joint drills near the island.
Beijing, which claims sovereignty over Taiwan and has vowed to take the island back under its control, by force if necessary, has been increasingly concerned about warming ties between Taipei and Washington.
On Wednesday, Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council, the island’s top mainland policy planner, called on Beijing to stop using military drills and warplanes as well as warships to intimidate the island, saying it had already sabotaged the stability in the Taiwan Strait and disturbed peace in the Indo-Pacific region.
Macau-based military expert Antony Wong Tong said the drill surrounding Taiwan had aimed at cutting US military from entering waters near the island in the condition of a contingency.
“The ongoing drill aims at achieving both political and military goals, with the air force and navy playing the leading role to grab air superiority in a simulation to cut off US military support, which also wants to provide shields for PLA marines to land,” Wong said.
“Since autumn is the high season for the PLA’s landing drill, it’s predictable that more bigger scale exercises will be staged in the near future, which is the old tactics for Beijing to warn and intimidate Taiwanese people.”
There have been 391 sorties by PLA warplanes into Taiwan’s ADIZ so far this year, including the largest ever incursion on June 15, when 28 military aircraft were spotted.
