Mainland Chinese Y-12 plane sent to test Taiwan’s frontline response, island’s defence ministry says
- Ministry confirms that aircraft that flew over Taipei-controlled islet was a transport plane
- But mainland analyst says the flight might have simply been a ‘deviation’
Dongyin is just 16km (10 miles) from the mainland city of Fuzhou and hosts major missile and radar complexes, including the Tien Kung, or Sky Bow, and Hsiung Feng anti-aircraft missiles.
The confirmation came 10 days after Dongyin residents told local media they had spotted an aircraft.
On February 6, Taiwanese air-defence troops stationed on the islet confirmed the plane was “an unidentified fixed-wing twin-propeller aircraft”, and said the aircraft was monitored closely.
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Huang offered fewer specifics about the flight on Tuesday and would not confirm whether the air force took action to warn or expel the plane, saying the Y-12 “did not enter Taiwan’s airspace or invade other important areas”.
However, he did acknowledge the flight was meant to test Taiwan’s air defences.
Defence ministry spokesman Shih Shun-wen also said the plane was a civilian aircraft and could have been sent to test Taiwan’s surveillance systems. Taipei would improve combat preparations, he added.
Major General Lin Wen-huang, director of the ministry’s operations and planning office, said the Taiwanese military would improve intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems on the islets.
It would also improve the ability of troops on those outposts to identify incursive aircraft, issue warnings, expel aircraft and take other action, he said.
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Military experts said the Y-12 was probably a maritime patrol plane owned by the mainland’s coastguard.
“The Y-12 likely belongs to the mainland’s coastguard and is involved in patrols near the Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea,” Zhou Chenming, a researcher from the Yuan Wang military science and technology think tank in Beijing, said.
It was not clear why the plane had flown to Dongyin, but it might have been just a “deviation”, Zhou said.
He said the flight did not appear to be a test of Taiwan’s defences because the mainland would not send a Y-12 to do the job.
Zhou said the mainland would send advanced Y-8 and Y-9 aircraft specifically designed for surveillance, and it already knew the island’s weaknesses.
“The PLA is very clear that Taiwan’s military is not capable of dealing with increasing mainland aircraft. It just wants to deter independence-leaning forces from seeking independence,” he said.
However, those warplanes stayed within the southwest ADIZ and did not fly over mainland Taiwan or its adjacent islets.
The Taiwanese military responded to the flights by scrambling fighter jets for expulsion and monitoring, according to the island’s defence ministry.
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Taiwanese media also reported on the weekend that a mainland military aircraft flew close to Dongsha Island, Taiwan’s most southern military outpost, on Saturday. The defence ministry did not confirm the reports.
Lu Li-shih, a former instructor at Taiwan’s Naval Academy in Kaohsiung, said whether the two flights had been a formal intrusion or not, Taipei at least should protest to Beijing.
“However, the Taiwanese military didn’t say they had taken action to give a warning, or even protest,” Lu said.
“The mainland wants to test Taiwan military’s defences, including its missile-defence systems on Dongyin, and what response the duty commanding officers would take during the Lunar New Year holiday when dealing with such an incident.”
