TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense on Thursday (Aug. 31) posted a meme on social media that mocked Chinese military aircraft that intrude into Taiwan's air defense identification zone (ADIZ) as "evil spirits" to coincide with Ghost Month.

Wednesday (Aug. 30) marked the Ghost Festival's midway mark. Devout Taoists and Buddhists believe that during this time of year, the gates of hell are opened for a full month so that hungry ghosts can roam the world of the living in search of food, money, entertainment, and possibly souls.

Using the folk festival to take a jab at Beijing, the defense ministry on Thursday uploaded an image to its X (formerly Twitter) page that showed a Taiwanese Mirage 2000 fighter jet shadowing a People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) Shaanxi Y-8 aircraft labeled with the caption: "We are watching you!"

In large font below are the words "under close surveillance," "Ghost Festival, the gate to the underworld opened," and "be gone evil spirits!"

The defense ministry said maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait is "crucial to the security, prosperity, and well-being of the Indo-Pacific region." It added that China shares this responsibility to the region.

The ministry warned that continued military harassment by the Chinese military could trigger a "sharp escalation of tension and worse regional security." It called on China to act responsibly and "immediately cease such unilateral actions that undermine regional stability."

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."

#ROCAF #Mirage2000 surveilled PLA's Y-8.

Maintaining the peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait is crucial to the security, prosperity, and well-being of the Indo-Pacific region. It is also a shared responsibility of all parties in the region, including Beijing. pic.twitter.com/WQmLNK7CuV

— 國防部 Ministry of National Defense, R.O.C. 〔錯誤字元無法儲存〕〔錯誤字元無法儲存〕 (@MoNDefense) August 31, 2023