Taiwan sees ‘record’ Chinese incursion into its air space

An undated handout photo made available by the Taiwan Ministry of National Defense shows PLA Y-8 Anti-Submarine Aircraft flies in an undisclosed location (EPA)

Taiwan defence ministry on Tuesday witnessed a record of 28 Chinese military jets entering its airspace, the largest mass plane incursion so far by Beijing.

In response to the major incursion that included Chinese fighters and nuclear-capable bombers, Taiwan’s military scrambled to deploy its combat air patrol forces and issued radio warnings to the intruding aircraft, reported Reuters.

China on Wednesday issued a warning to “foreign forces” not to intervene in the “Taiwan issue” and called it Beijing’s “strong response” to the act of "collusion” between Taipei and Washington.

The intrusion was the biggest to date, eclipsing the previous record of 25 Chinese fighter jets entering its airspace on 12 April.

According to Taiwan, China sent four nuclear capable H-6 bombers, anti-submarine, electronic warfare and included 14 J-16, six J-11 fighters.

28 PLA aircraft (Y-8 ASW, H-6*4, Y-8 EW, KJ-500 AEW&C*2, J-16*14 and J-11*6) entered #Taiwan’s southwest ADIZ on June. 15, 2021. Please check our official website for more information: https://t.co/JnfN8bOwgl pic.twitter.com/MBJv2jbNMZ

— 國防部 Ministry of National Defense, R.O.C. 🇹🇼 (@MoNDefense) June 15, 2021

Democratically ruled Taiwan sees itself as a sovereign state but China claims it as its own breakaway province.

Over the last year, Taiwan Defence Ministry has been reporting almost daily incursions by Chinese aircraft over its waters in the South China Sea.

This time the Chinese jets were also flown around the southern part of Taiwan near apart from the area close to the Pratas Islands.

China’s show of force comes after the G7 leaders issued a statement Sunday calling the Chinese government for peace and "stability across the Taiwan Strait." Beijing, however, said G7 was "interfering in China’s internal affairs.”

The US Navy said the Chinese planes were flown over the South China Sea on the same day their aircraft carrier group led by the USS Ronald Reagan had entered the waters as part of the routine mission.

The spokesperson for the Carrier Strike Group 5 said that the Ronald Reagan Strike group did not interact with any Chinese military aircraft.

"During the strike group’s South China Sea operations, all communications between ships and aircraft have been consistent with international norms and have not impacted our operations."

A senior official told Reuters that it was a “strategic intimidation of the US military” and wanted US to know their capability.

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