A US military patrol plane yesterday flew through the Taiwan Strait, as Washington seeks to reinforce the airspace as international.
The US and its allies regularly cross through the 180km Taiwan Strait, either by ship or aircraft.
“A US Navy P-8A Poseidon transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace on Nov. 26, 2024,” the US Navy’s 7th Fleet said in a statement. “The aircraft’s transit of the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the United States’ commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific.”
Photo: Bloomberg
The Ministry of National Defense said the P-8A flew in a northerly direction through the Strait and that the Taiwanese military monitored it, adding that the “situation was as normal.”
China yesterday said it had monitored the aircraft and condemned the flight for being “openly hyped.”
“US remarks distort legal principles, confuse the public and mislead international perception,” Cao Jun (曹駿), a senior colonel and spokesman for China’s Eastern Theater Air Force, said in a statement.
Beijing had “organized naval and air forces to monitor and guard the trajectory of the US aircraft and effectively responded and dealt with it,” Cao added.
To assert its sovereignty claims over Taiwan, Beijing regularly deploys fighter jets and warships around the nation, while opposing transits by military ships and aircraft belonging to the US and its allies.
During a previous transit by a US P-8A Poseidon in September, the Chinese military tailed the aircraft.
Additional reporting by Reuters
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