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Lawmakers react to Su-27 incursion along party lines

ROC Central News Agency

2011/07/25 23:37:21

By Wen Kuei-hsiang and Sofia Wu

Taipei, July 25 (CNA) The opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislative caucus demanded Monday that President Ma Ying-jeou lodge a protest with China over its warplane's recent crossing of the Taiwan Strait median line and ask Beijing to apologize for the incident.

The DPP caucus made the demand after the Ministry of National Defense (MND) confirmed earlier in the day that two Chinese Su-27 jet fighters were spotted crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait on June 29 when they were conducting routine training missions.

The MND further said in a statement that the military closely monitored the whole process and reacted in accordance with emergency response regulations.

The ministry issued the statement in response to a United Daily News (UDN) report that a Chinese Su-27 crossed the Taiwan Strait median line late last month when it was chasing a U.S. U-2S high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft.

The Chinese fighter circled back to the mainland only after two Taiwanese F-16 fighters prepared to head toward the nearby airspace, the newspaper said.

While the MND confirmed the report, it added that the crossing was not a deliberately provocative act.

DPP legislative whip Tsai Huang-liang said at a news conference that the crossing of the median line was an act of "invasion, provocation and unfriendliness."

"Both the Presidential Office and the MND should file a protest with Chinese authorities and demand that the Chinese military apologize for the crossing and promise such an act will not recur," Tsai said.

His ruling Kuomintang colleagues, however, disagreed, saying the incident was just an isolated case. They said the MND had responded appropriately to the incident, but they added that the KMT caucus would ask the MND to brief the Legislative Yuan on the situation when it opens its new session this fall.

KMT Legislator Shui Hua-min, a retired senior military officer, said Taiwan did not need to make a high-profile response to the incident since the Chiense warplane did not intrude into Taiwan's airspace.

"The so-called median line of the Taiwan Strait is invisible and we don't need to make any vocal reaction," he added.