A Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) drone looped Taiwan flying from north to south during the 24 hours ending at 6am on Wednesday, the Ministry of National Defense said, marking the second such PLA maneuver conducted in recent days.
The drone was one of 27 PLA aircraft and seven warships that were detected in the waters around Taiwan over the period, the ministry said in a statement.
The BZK-005 reconnaissance drone looped Taiwan proper clockwise starting from the north, flying south along the east coast and crossing through the Bashi Channel on its return within the nation’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ), a map released by the ministry showed.
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of National Defense
The ministry said it monitored the situation and tasked aircraft, navy vessels and land-based missile systems to respond.
The movement follows a similar activity by a PLA Tengden TB-001 combat drone, which made a similar loop in the counterclockwise direction in the 24 hours ending at 6am on Friday last week.
The Japanese Ministry of Defense's Joint Staff Office released a map on Tuesday showing looping PLA drone movements over the waters east of Taiwan heading generally southward, although it did not name the class of drone.
Photo courtesy of the Japanese Ministry of Defense's Joint Staff Office
Lu Li-shih (呂禮詩), a former navy lieutenant commander, said that the drone likely entered the ADIZ before Japanese aircraft made visual contact, which is why it did not know the class.
The relatively incomplete flight map also shows that Japan’s radars cannot detect as far as the Bashi Channel, but since it confirmed it was flying in that direction, it shows a significant exchange of information between the Taiwanese and Japanese militaries, he said.
National Security Bureau Deputy Director-General Chen Chin-kuang (陳進廣) told legislators on Wednesday that the bureau is closely monitoring the situation.
Asked whether China intends to use drone activity to create “gray-zone conflict” or push red lines it has avoided in the past, Chen said the bureau has not identified any specific plans so far, but is working with its partners to gather intelligence.
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