Taipei scrambles jets and navy as mainland China sends warships through Taiwan Strait
Destroyer and frigate appeared to be on long-distance training mission and sailed towards South China Sea on Friday, island’s defence ministry says
Taiwan has scrambled jets and navy ships as two mainland warships sailed through the Taiwan Strait, in the latest sign of heightened tensions between Beijing and the self-ruled island.
The PLA Navy warships – a Type 052C destroyer and a Type 054A frigate – sailed southward off the island’s east coast early on Friday, Taiwan’s defence ministry said.
“They were moving in open sea close to Taiwan’s territorial waters before passing through the Bashi Channel, south of Taiwan,” the ministry said in a statement on Saturday.
It said the mainland vessels, which were sailing southwest to the South China Sea, appeared to be on a long-distance training mission.
“We immediately scrambled jets and navy ships to monitor the movement of the vessels in line with our regulations,” the ministry said.
Taiwanese newspaper United Daily News reported on Friday that the Jinan destroyer and Huanggang frigate had sailed into the Taiwan Strait last week, within the island’s air defence identification zone, and at one stage they were just 60 nautical miles from the islet of Xiaoliuqiu near Kaohsiung.