China continues intrusion into Taiwan's airspace for 7th day, sends warfare plane

A Chinese military aircraft recently breached Taiwan’s Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ), marking the latest intrusion by Beijing amidst an altering status quo in Indo-pacific. In an online statement, Taipei said that Thursday's attack marked the seventh straight day of Chinese intrusions, highlighting that 19 PLA jets flew into its ADIZ on last Sunday alone. As per Taiwan’s Defence Ministry, the aircraft was a People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) Shaanxi Y-8 anti-submarine warfare plane that flew into the southwest corner of Taiwanese Airspace. 

"The Air Force Command announced today that a joint aircraft entered the Southwest Air Defense Identification Zone for flight activities. There is one type of Y-8 anti-submarine aircraft. And implement anti-aircraft missile tracking and surveillance," the Taiwanese Defence Ministry said. 

Notably, China sees democratic Taiwan as a breakaway province, but the island of 24 million people claims sovereignty. The grey-zone air intrusions are a common tactic used by Beijing to coerce China into accepting its authority. Since mid-September, the interference has multiplied with most turboprop aircraft being sent to the southwest. Notably, as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) marked the 100th year of its foundation on July 1, President Xi Jinping vowed complete unification of China. 

19 jets enter ADIZ

As per the tweet of the Taiwanese defence ministry, the 19 Chinese jets that entered the Taiwan air defence zone on September 5 included one Y-8 anti-submarine aircraft, four H-6, 10 J-16 and four Su Kai-30 aircraft. As soon as the Taiwanese Air Force detected Chinese aircraft activities, they dispatched their air patrol troops to respond to them. Furthermore, the ministry said that it has deployed an anti-missile system that is monitoring Chinese activity.

EU with Taiwan 

This comes as members of the European Parliament have urged the EU to have closer ties with Taiwan. The MEPs have further issued warnings over the continued tensions across the Taiwan Strait. The European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs adopted a report on Wednesday, calling for a "stronger partnership" between the European Union and Taiwan. The European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee urged the European Union to begin work on a bilateral investment agreement with Taiwan. China, however, opposed the 'EU-Taiwan Political Relations and Cooperation' report, saying that it violates the country’s 'One China Principle', as per ANI. 

Image: AP/ANI