Beijing sends warplane to buzz Taiwan after missile test
- PLA aircraft crosses unofficial airspace boundary in Taiwan Strait after island launches missile-intercept drill
- Taipei scrambles fighter jets and situation ‘normal’, defence ministry says
The PLA Yun-8 transport plane crossed the median line in the strait on Friday, crossing the unofficial airspace boundary between the two parties.
Taiwan’s defence ministry said it responded by scrambling jet fighters.
“We detected the Chinese Communist Yun-8 aircraft flying southwest into Taiwan this morning and immediately dispatched our fighter jets to shadow it and disperse through radio warning,” the ministry said.
Describing the situation as “normal”, the ministry said it had full surveillance and control of all activities in the sea and air that surrounded Taiwan.
The incursion came after Taiwan’s National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology test-fired two missiles off the eastern county of Taitung and the Jiupeng military base in the southernmost county of Pingtung on Thursday night.