Chinese warplanes enter Taiwan Strait after US flyover
- Taiwanese military says it detected a group of Su-30 fighters and sent jets to intercept them
- PLA show of strength follows US transport plane’s flight over the island
A group of Chinese warplanes flew into the Taiwan Strait and briefly approached Taiwan, just hours after a US transport plane passed over the island on Tuesday.
Taiwan scrambled its warplanes to warn off the People’s Liberation Army fighter jets which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait on Tuesday morning, the island’s defence ministry said in a statement.
“The military detected multiple numbers of Sukhoi Su-30 fighter jets flying southwest into Taiwan briefly this morning,” it said, adding the air force immediately scrambled jets to shadow, intercept and disperse them through radio warnings.
“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.”
The incursion came just several hours after a US C-40A transport plane made a rare flight into Taiwan over the southwest coast early in the morning.