The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) showed flagrant disregard for international norms by staging a live-fire exercise in the Taiwan Strait without prior announcement, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday.
The ministry said that it detected the launch of 32 aircraft, including Shenyang J-11 fighters, Shaanxi KJ-500 early-warning planes and drones, among which 22 crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait, and entered the north and southwest regions of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone.
The aircraft were apparently part of a joint patrol exercise conducted by the PLA Navy, it said.
Photo courtesy of a Penghu County fisherman
The ministry said it scrambled units from across the military services to monitor the PLA activity.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) announced by radio that it was holding a live-fire training exercise in international shipping lanes without prior notice, posing a significant risk to ships sailing in the region, the ministry said.
The activity blatantly challenged regional stability, it said.
PLA exercises near Vietnam and Australia, as well actions against the Philippines, are all challenges to the “status quo,” showing that China is the only and greatest threat to peace and stability, not only in the Taiwan Strait, but also the Indo-Pacific region, the ministry said.
Chinese Ministry of National Defense spokesman Wu Qian (吳謙) said that the area used in yesterday’s drill was international waters, adding that it had repeatedly issued warnings.
China’s activities align with international law and normal practice, and pose no threat to aviation safety, Wu added.
Separately, the China Coast Guard on Tuesday announced that it would routinely inspect ships near Kinmen County in retaliation for the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) boarding the Togolese Republic-flagged Hong Tai 168 (宏泰168).
The CGA on Tuesday detected four China Coast Guard ships sailing near restricted waters off Kinmen. It dispatched an equal number of ships and demanded that the Chinese vessels leave the area.
Since Saturday, the Hong Tai 168 had been loitering off Tainan and had not responded to hails, Ocean Affairs Council Minister Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said.
The ship was in the area when an undersea cable connecting Taiwan proper and Penghu County was severed on Monday, Kuan said.
Coast guard personnel boarded the ship early on Tuesday and found that it was operated by Chinese sailors, the CGA said, adding that it did not rule out the possibility that the ship was being used in China’s “gray zone” tactics.
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