Taipei - Taiwan's air force scrambled
armed fighters on Sunday to intercept Chinese jets that flew
around the island claimed by Beijing as its own, in a move
denounced by Taiwan's Defence Ministry as a threat to regional
peace and stability.
China has been flying what it calls "island encirclement"
drills on-off since 2016 when Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen
first took office. Beijing believes Tsai, who won re-election
last month, wishes to push the island's formal independence.
Tsai says Taiwan is an independent country called the
Republic of China, its official name.
In a statement, Taiwan's Defence Ministry said Chinese J-11
fighters and H-6 bombers flew into the Bashi Channel to the
south of Taiwan, then out into the Pacific before heading back
to base via the Miyako Strait, located between Japan's islands
of Miyako and Okinawa, to the northeast of Taiwan.
"During this period, the national military appropriately
used air reconnaissance aircraft and air defence forces in
accordance with combat readiness regulations," it said.
It provided a picture of a Taiwan air force F-16 shadowing
one of the Chinese H-6 bombers. President Tsai later said that
the F-16s had accompanied the Chinese aircraft throughout.
According to Taiwan's official Central News Agency, the
scrambled F-16s carried live missiles.
"The Chinese Communist's long-range far-out-at-sea missions
have impacted regional security and stability and endanger the
peace and welfare shared by all parties in the region," the
ministry said.
The latest fly-by came as Taiwan's vice-president elect,
William Lai, was returning from a visit to Washington, where he
attended the high-profile National Prayer Breakfast, at which
U.S. President Donald Trump spoke.
China has denounced Lai's trip.
China's Eastern Theatre Command, in a statement late on
Sunday carried by the official People's Liberation Army Daily,
said the aircraft carried out "real combat-oriented training".
"Taiwan and its island are sacred and inalienable parts of
China. The Chinese military's combat ready patrol was a
completely legitimate and necessary action aimed at the current
situation in the Taiwan Strait and safeguarding national
sovereignty," according to the statement.
TAIPEI-BEIJING RELATIONS
Relations between Taipei and Beijing have further plummeted
in recent weeks following the outbreak of the coronavirus in
China, with Taiwan accusing China of preventing the island from
accessing full information from the World Health Organization
(WHO) or attending its meetings.
China should focus on controlling the virus, Tsai said on
Monday, rather than threatening Taiwan.
"I want to tell China that the most important thing is to
quickly get the epidemic under control."
Taiwan is not a WHO member due to China's objections, which
says the island is merely a Chinese province whose interests in
the health body are adequately represented by Beijing.
But in one small diplomatic breakthrough for Taiwan, the WHO
said Taiwanese experts will participate this week in an on-line
meeting of experts about the virus.
Taiwan's Foreign Ministry said this was a "good start" and
that they would strive to take part in more WHO events.
Taiwan's WHO troubles last week became another flashpoint in
Sino-U.S. ties, with the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva
telling the agency to deal directly with Taiwan's government,
drawing a sharp rebuke from China.