08:54 p
Tuesday, January 31, 2023
Taipei-(HA):
The Taiwanese Ministry of Defense announced that it had monitored nine Chinese military aircraft and three naval vessels that violated the country’s sovereignty during the past 24 hours.
Among the People’s Liberation Army’s nine aircraft, a Shaanxi Y-8 electronic warfare aircraft and a reconnaissance drone were detected in the southwest corner of the Taiwan Air Defense Identification Area, while no one was detected, the ministry said in a statement on Tuesday, reported by the local newspaper (Taiwan News). Any Liberation Army aircraft will cross the center line of the Taiwan Strait during this time.
In response, Taiwan sent planes and ships and used ground-based missiles to monitor the planes and ships of the People’s Liberation Army.
Beijing sent – this month – 355 military aircraft and 107 warships around Taiwan; Since September 2020, China has increased its use of gray zone tactics by routinely sending aircraft to Taiwan’s Air Defense Identification Zone.
Gray zone tactics are defined as “an effort or series of efforts that go beyond deterring a stable state and emphasizing the attempt to achieve the state’s security goals without resorting to the direct and massive use of force.”
