(Planet Today) Taiwan's military has announced in a fresh statement that in the last days China's PLA military has for the first time sent drones across the Taiwan Strait's median line, which has long served as the de facto line separating Chinese from Taiwanese territory - though after Nancy Pelosi's Aug.2nd visit to Taipei Chinese officials said the line has effectively been obliterated.
The ministry said, recounting PLA actions of the past days through early Monday, that "45 PLA aircraft flew around Taiwan on Thursday, 25 of which crossed the median line, including a BT-100 unmanned aerial vehicle." And according to The South China Morning Post, Beijing "also confirmed that more drones had crossed the line on Friday and Saturday."
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| Image of Chinese drone in action published by regional media in prior days. |
"On Monday, it said another PLA drone — identified as a BZK-007 — had entered Taiwan's southwest air defense identification zone, a rare revelation of the model and its flight route," the SCMP report continued.
The report further cited an anonymous Chinese official with knowledge of PLA operations, who said Beijing has been stepping up its "encirclement patrols" using drones as well as manned aircraft, particularly after the earlier in the month incident wherein Taiwan shot down a civilian drone after it came near a Taiwan-controlled island just off China's mainland.
That prior September 1st live fire incident involved a potential 'hobby drone' believed to be from the Chinese mainland entering "the airspace over the restricted waters of Shiyu Island," according to a Taiwan defense ministry statement at the time. It was a "first" which signaled further escalation between the two sides.
The anonymous Chinese analyst or official cited by SCMP commented as follows:
"The PLA used to send UAVs to perform reconnaissance tasks in sensitive areas of the sky before sending fighter jets for special missions, but the Taiwanese military wasn't aware of it until recently."
Saturday saw a huge number of Chinese jets and warships in the area just off the self-ruled island...
43 PLA aircraft and 9 PLAN vessels around our surrounding region were detected today (Sept. 10, 2022) until 1700(GMT+8). #ROCArmedForces have monitored the situation and responded to these activities with aircraft in CAP, naval vessels, and land-based missile systems. pic.twitter.com/eEm0HPF9kl
— 國防部 Ministry of National Defense, R.O.C. 🇹🇼 (@MoNDefense) September 10, 2022
Taiwan has meanwhile been reiterating warnings that its military won't hesitate to exercise right of self-defense and to counter-attack in the event of Chinese forces entering its territory.
The military will determine "whether to engage the target and exercise the right of self-defense to counter-attack," if the foreign drones fail to depart after warnings, Major General Lin Wen-huang said earlier this month.
(Article by Tyler Durden republished from ZeroHedge.com)
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