Taipei says Chinese military aircraft flew night exercise across Taiwan Strait
- Taipei says its fighters were sent to break up PLA Air Force flight that crossed median of Taiwan Strait
- Night drill by J-11 fighters and KJ-500 early warning aircraft was message from Beijing, analyst says
Taiwan sent fighter planes to intercept a flight of PLA Air Force aircraft that briefly approached the island on Monday evening in what analysts said was a rare exercise by Beijing aimed at showing off its night navigation capabilities.
“We detected that a group of Chinese Communist warplanes, including KJ-500 early warning aircraft and J-11 jet fighters, staged a night-time training exercise over the sea southwest of Taiwan,” the ministry said on Monday.
The island’s “air force scrambled fighter jets to shadow, intercept and disperse the communist warplanes” through radio warnings, it said.
“The military has full surveillance and control of all activities in the sea and air that surround Taiwan, and the public can rest assured of our capability to uphold security for our national territory.”