Two Chinese aircraft yesterday crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait, the Ministry of National Defense said, as Beijing continues its military maneuvers near the nation.
Although not an internationally recognized delineation, the median line had been tacitly accepted by both sides since the 1950s.
On Sunday, two Chinese fighter jets and an uncrewed aerial vehicle also crossed the median line, the ministry said.
Photo: Reuters
The three aircraft were among eight that were detected around Taiwan that day, along with five Chinese naval ships, it added.
Two Shenyang J-11 fighters crossed the median line near northern Taiwan, while a KVD-001 drone crossed the line further north, it said.
Separately on Sunday, a Y-8 tactical reconnaissance plane and a Guizhou BZK-007 drone entered the southwestern part of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ), it added.
The ministry did not disclose the flight paths of the aircraft or the locations of the naval vessels.
The military scrambled fighter jets and naval vessels, and tracked the Chinese aircraft with surface-to-air missile systems, the ministry said.
The ministry has since September last year been publishing information about Chinese incursions into Taiwan’s ADIZ, amid a growing number of intrusions.
China stepped up its military maneuvers early last month and held live-fire drills in six locations around Taiwan, shortly after a visit to Taipei by US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Since then, dozens of Chinese warplanes, including 14 on Thursday, have crossed the median line.
Additional reporting by Reuters
Taiwan is stepping up plans to create self-sufficient supply chains for combat drones and increase foreign orders from the US to counter China’s numerical superiority, a defense official said on Saturday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said the nation’s armed forces are in agreement with US Admiral Samuel Paparo’s assessment that Taiwan’s military must be prepared to turn the nation’s waters into a “hellscape” for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Paparo, the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, reiterated the concept during a Congressional hearing in Washington on Wednesday. He first coined the term in a security conference last
A magnitude 4.3 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 8:31am today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was located in Hualien County, about 70.3 kilometers south southwest of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 23.2km, according to the administration. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County, where it measured 3 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 2 in Hualien and Nantou counties, the CWA said.
The Overseas Community Affairs Council (OCAC) yesterday announced a fundraising campaign to support survivors of the magnitude 7.7 earthquake that struck Myanmar on March 28, with two prayer events scheduled in Taipei and Taichung later this week. “While initial rescue operations have concluded [in Myanmar], many survivors are now facing increasingly difficult living conditions,” OCAC Minister Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) told a news conference in Taipei. The fundraising campaign, which runs through May 31, is focused on supporting the reconstruction of damaged overseas compatriot schools, assisting students from Myanmar in Taiwan, and providing essential items, such as drinking water, food and medical supplies,
New Party Deputy Secretary-General You Chih-pin (游智彬) this morning went to the National Immigration Agency (NIA) to “turn himself in” after being notified that he had failed to provide proof of having renounced his Chinese household registration. He was one of more than 10,000 naturalized Taiwanese citizens from China who were informed by the NIA that their Taiwanese citizenship might be revoked if they fail to provide the proof in three months, people familiar with the matter said. You said he has proof that he had renounced his Chinese household registration and demanded the NIA provide proof that he still had Chinese
RSS