BFF-38 Taiwan blasts China for ‘reckless’ fighter jet incursion

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Taiwan blasts China for ‘reckless’ fighter jet incursion

TAIPEI, March 31, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Taipei hit out at China on Sunday for
what it said was a “reckless and provocative” incursion by two fighter jets
across a largely respected line dividing the two sides in the Taiwan Strait.

The Defence Ministry said Taiwan scrambled its own aircraft on Sunday
morning and broadcast warnings after two J-11 fighter jets crossed over the
“median line” within the waters that separate the island from the mainland.

“At 11 am, March 31, 2 PLAAF J-11 jets violated the long-held tacit
agreement by crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait,” the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs said on Twitter.

“It was an intentional, reckless and provocative action. We’ve informed
regional partners and condemn China for such behavior,” the ministry added.

China has ramped up the number of fighter and warship crossings near
Taiwan or through the straits in recent years, rattling nerves on the island
at a time when relations are at a low point.

But it is highly unusual for them to cross the so-called median line, a
widely agreed upon boundary that passes through the middle of the straits.

Taiwanese media said the last time Chinese jets had crossed the line was
in 2011.

That incident was portrayed by both sides as an inadvertent mistake by two
jets responding to a nearby US spy plane.

But on Sunday Taipei described the latest incursion as a deliberate act.

Presidential Office spokesman Alex Huang called the flights “provocative
and damaging the cross-straits status quo”.

The flights come a week after the US sailed a destroyer and a coastguard
ship through the Taiwan Strait, angering Beijing.

Although the straits are an international waterway China often hits out
when US or other western navy ships pass through them.

Beijing sees Taiwan as part of its territory awaiting unification, even
though the two sides have been ruled separately since the end of a civil war
in 1949.

Washington diplomatically recognises China over Taiwan but remains the
island’s chief military ally and arms supplier.

Earlier this month Taiwan said it had made a formal request to the US for
new fighter jets.

Since 2002, the US has repeatedly denied such requests, fearing a possible
backlash from Beijing.

But in that time China has massively increased spending on its armed
forces, including highly advanced fifth-generation jet fighters.

That has left Taiwan with an ageing airforce that analysts say is
outgunned and in desperate need of an upgrade.

China has significantly stepped up diplomatic and military pressure on
Taiwan since the Beijing-sceptic President Tsai Ing-wen took office in 2016,
including staging a series of military exercises near the island.

She will be fighting for reelection in January 2020.

Last week Tsai made a brief stop in Hawaii to deliver a speech, prompting
China to lodge an official protest with Washington.

BSS/AFP/FI/ 2106 hrs