Chinese fighters ‘repel’ US aircraft in Taiwan Strait
By Kathrin Hille in Beijing
Two Chinese fighter jets crossed the middle line in the Taiwan Strait late last month for the first time in more than a decade to repel a US spy aircraft, according to defence sources in Taipei and Beijing.
This marks the first known encounter between US and Chinese military aircraft in mid-air since a US reconnaissance aircraft collided with a Chinese fighter jet in 2001 and was forced to land on Hainan island, sparking a crisis that severely damaged bilateral relations.
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The incident in the Taiwan Strait comes as the US and China are trying hard not to let rising tensions in the South China Sea derail a recent improvement in bilateral military relations.
Highlighting the strategic rivalry between the two countries in the region and the security risks remaining between China and Taiwan despite the recent detente between the two, Taipei moved to downplay the incident.
Taiwan’s defence ministry confirmed that two Chinese Su-27 fighter jets had briefly crossed the so-called middle line on June 29 but added the incident was not a provocation.
“This was not between Taiwan and China, but between China and the US,” said a senior Taiwanese defence official. “The Chinese crossed the line to repel a perceived intrusion by a US reconnaissance aircraft.”
A Chinese defence source said: “This once again shows that US military activity very close to our territory is a destabilising factor in the region.”
Taiwan has not been controlled by a Beijing-based government since China ceded the island to Japan in 1895, but Beijing claims sovereignty over the self-ruled island. Although relations between the two sides have warmed since Ma Ying-jeou, a China-friendly president, took office in Taipei in 2008, Beijing still sticks to a threat to invade should the island formalise its de-facto independence.
The two sides have long respected a middle line drawn by the US when it signed a mutual defence treaty with the Republic of China in 1954 when Washington still recognised the Taipei-based government as the legitimate representative of China.
The line functions as a buffer zone between two militaries that still treat each other as enemies.
Chinese military aircraft have not crossed that line since July 1999. That summer, the People’s Liberation Army Airforce, which normally rarely patrolled the area, flew hundreds of sorties over the Taiwan Strait. That incident came after Lee Teng-hui, then Taiwan’s president, described ties with China as special state-to-state relations, coming closer than ever to declaring the island’s independence.
The Taiwanese official said the island’s air force sent two of its fighters up in reaction to the intrusion of the Chinese jets. He said there had not been any direct contact with the Chinese military, and the aircraft had not come dangerously close to each other at any time during the incident.
US military surveillance missions close to China both at sea and in the air are a sore point in relations between the world’s military superpower and the nation believed to be its most likely challenger.
China’s Ministry of Defence could not be reached for comment.
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/fcf3cfe6-b6ba-11e0-ae1f-00144feabdc0.html?ftcamp=rss#axzz1T8oUOyV8
By Kathrin Hille in Beijing
Two Chinese fighter jets crossed the middle line in the Taiwan Strait late last month for the first time in more than a decade to repel a US spy aircraft, according to defence sources in Taipei and Beijing.
This marks the first known encounter between US and Chinese military aircraft in mid-air since a US reconnaissance aircraft collided with a Chinese fighter jet in 2001 and was forced to land on Hainan island, sparking a crisis that severely damaged bilateral relations.
More
The incident in the Taiwan Strait comes as the US and China are trying hard not to let rising tensions in the South China Sea derail a recent improvement in bilateral military relations.
Highlighting the strategic rivalry between the two countries in the region and the security risks remaining between China and Taiwan despite the recent detente between the two, Taipei moved to downplay the incident.
Taiwan’s defence ministry confirmed that two Chinese Su-27 fighter jets had briefly crossed the so-called middle line on June 29 but added the incident was not a provocation.
“This was not between Taiwan and China, but between China and the US,” said a senior Taiwanese defence official. “The Chinese crossed the line to repel a perceived intrusion by a US reconnaissance aircraft.”
A Chinese defence source said: “This once again shows that US military activity very close to our territory is a destabilising factor in the region.”
Taiwan has not been controlled by a Beijing-based government since China ceded the island to Japan in 1895, but Beijing claims sovereignty over the self-ruled island. Although relations between the two sides have warmed since Ma Ying-jeou, a China-friendly president, took office in Taipei in 2008, Beijing still sticks to a threat to invade should the island formalise its de-facto independence.
The two sides have long respected a middle line drawn by the US when it signed a mutual defence treaty with the Republic of China in 1954 when Washington still recognised the Taipei-based government as the legitimate representative of China.
The line functions as a buffer zone between two militaries that still treat each other as enemies.
Chinese military aircraft have not crossed that line since July 1999. That summer, the People’s Liberation Army Airforce, which normally rarely patrolled the area, flew hundreds of sorties over the Taiwan Strait. That incident came after Lee Teng-hui, then Taiwan’s president, described ties with China as special state-to-state relations, coming closer than ever to declaring the island’s independence.
The Taiwanese official said the island’s air force sent two of its fighters up in reaction to the intrusion of the Chinese jets. He said there had not been any direct contact with the Chinese military, and the aircraft had not come dangerously close to each other at any time during the incident.
US military surveillance missions close to China both at sea and in the air are a sore point in relations between the world’s military superpower and the nation believed to be its most likely challenger.
China’s Ministry of Defence could not be reached for comment.
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/fcf3cfe6-b6ba-11e0-ae1f-00144feabdc0.html?ftcamp=rss#axzz1T8oUOyV8
