Taiwan condemns China after air force planes cross median line
ROC Central News Agency
2019/04/01 13:24:03
Taipei, April 1 (CNA) Foreign Minister Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) on Monday condemned China's "intentional, reckless and provocative action" a day earlier by sending two fighter planes across the Taiwan Strait median line at noon Sunday, a rare move that violated a long-held tacit agreement between the two sides.
Wu said Taiwan informed its regional partners of the incursion the same day, which he said triggered a 12-minute standoff between Taiwanese and Chinese warplanes when the latter flew as far as 43 nautical miles on the east side, or Taiwan side, of the median line, despite repeated warnings.
"We warned these regional partners of China's apparent intentional and dangerous move, calling for them to jointly pay closer attention to Beijing's behavior," he told lawmakers.
The minister declined to disclose which regional partners had been informed.
Although none of those partners have so far commented officially on the incident, many indicated disapproval of Beijing's behavior, Wu said.
According to Wu, this is the first time in recent years a PLA fighter jet has crossed the Taiwan Strait median line.
Democratic Progressive Party lawmaker Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) said previous intrusions only lasted briefly and mainly occurred due to poor weather conditions.
On such occasions Chinese jets often returned to their side of the strait immediately after been warned by their Taiwanese counterparts. Sunday's incident, did not fall into that category, Wang said.
According to Taiwan's defense ministry, two J-11 fighter planes from the People's Liberation Army of China crossed the median line and entered Taiwan's southwestern airspace at 11 a.m. Sunday.
They finally retreated to the west side of the median line after being issued with multiple radio warnings, he added.
(By Joseph Yeh)
Enditem/AW
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