TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense (MND) tracked 14 Chinese military aircraft and five naval vessels around the country between 6 a.m. Tuesday (Oct. 10) and 6 a.m. Wednesday (Oct. 11).
The defense ministry said that 14 People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) military aircraft and five People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) vessels were detected. Of the detected aircraft, six entered the north and southwest sectors of Taiwan's Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ).
The aircraft tracked in the ADIZ included two Sukhoi Su-30 combat aircraft and four Shenyang J-16 fighter jets. The Su-30 fighters entered the northern sector of the ADIZ before flying crossing the median line and flying back onto the Taiwan Strait.
The Shenyang J-16 fighters flew into the southwest corner of the ADIZ to the northeast of the Dongsha Islands before returning to the Taiwan Strait.
The MND said it monitored the situation with its intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance system. In response, it scrambled combat patrol aircraft, dispatched naval vessels, and deployed land-based air defense missile systems.
Since September 2020, Beijing has increasingly employed the use of "gray zone tactics" in the form of deployments of military aircraft and naval vessels over the median line and inside Taiwan's ADIZ.
According to CSIS, gray zone tactics are “an effort or series of efforts beyond steady-state deterrence and assurance that attempts to achieve one’s security objectives without resorting to direct and sizable use of force."
Flight paths of six PLAAF aircraft detected in ADIZ on Tuesday and Wednesday. (MND image)
