Taiwan reports lowest altitude incursion by Chinese military plane
Apr 27, 2021
Taipei [Taiwan], April 28 : Taiwanese military intercepted a Chinese spy plane apparently trying to test Taiwan's radar capabilities by flying at an extremely low altitude of only 30 meters.
On Monday, Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense announced that a Y-8 electronic warfare plane (Y-8 EW) and a Y-8 tactical reconnaissance aircraft (Y-8 RECCE) intruded into Taiwan's Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ), Taiwan News reported.
According to the MND, it dispatched aircraft, issued radio warnings, and deployed air defence missile systems to monitor the activity.
Local military aircraft tracker tracked the aircraft's flight paths as well as radio broadcasts by the MND. It stated that Y-8 anti-submarine warfare (ASW) plane was detected that day as well.
The incident marks the lowest altitude incursion by a Chinese military plane in Taiwan's ADIZ this year. It also was the lowest altitude that Taiwan's military had directed a radio warning broadcast this year.
Air defence identification zones are early warning systems that help countries detect incursions into their airspace.
Any aircraft entering such an area is supposed to report its route and purpose to the "host" nation, though the zones are classified as international airspace and pilots are not legally bound to make such a notification.
Since mid-September of last year, Beijing has stepped up its gray-zone tactics by regularly sending planes into Taiwan's ADIZ, with most instances occurring in the southwest corner of the zone and usually consisting of one to three slow-flying turboprop planes.
Over the past few months, Taiwan has reported incursion by Chinese warplanes into ADIZ almost daily.
Last month, Taiwanese premier Su Tseng-chang termed the incursion by Chinese warplanes into Taiwan's Air Defense Identification Zone (ADZ) as "unnecessary" and "thoughtless". Beijing claims full sovereignty over Taiwan, a democracy of almost 24 million people located off the southeastern coast of mainland China, despite the fact that the two sides have been governed separately for more than seven decades.
Taipei, on the other hand, has countered the Chinese aggression by increasing strategic ties with democracies including the US, which has been repeatedly opposed by Beijing.
China has threatened that "Taiwan's independence" means war.
Wu Qian, spokesperson of China's Ministry of National Defence, on January 28 "warned" the people wanting "Taiwan independence" and had said "those who play with fire will set themselves on fire, and seeking 'Taiwan independence' means nothing but war".
