Coincidence or deliberate interception? PLA cuts into Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen’s radio call with air force officer
- A PLA warning was played as the island’s leader was making a radio call to a captain stationed in the southern city of Kaohsiung
- Taiwan says the mainland military had not hacked into her radio channel, but security specialists call for an investigation in case plans are being leaked to the PLA
Tsai was visiting southern Taiwan on Friday to boost morale among service personnel ahead of next week’s Dragon Boat Festival and spoke to two female officers stationed at an air defence and missile command centre in Kaohsiung.
In a video clip broadcast by local media, Tsai was seen radioing an air force captain, saying “Hotel Delta, this is the president”, before a PLA warning was heard in the background.
“This is the Chinese air force, you have already intruded into our airspace and seriously violated our sovereignty,” the message said.
Tsai broke into a smile when she heard the warning and an officer came forward to shut down the radio broadcast by the PLA. The conversation continued with Tsai asking the air force captain if she had spotted anything unusual on patrol, and urging her to remain vigilant when she was told nothing had been spotted.
The episode was later remade into a funny clip by the mainland-based nationalistic news outlet Huanqiu.com, showing Tsai making a weird smile.