TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Ministry of National Defense on Tuesday (Jan. 16) introduced a new format for its maps depicting the latest intrusions by Chinese military assets in the air defense identification zone (ADIZ).
In the old version of the maps, aircraft models and the flight paths taken were shown with color-coded lines. Under the new format, the flight routes are no longer shown and instead, a text description is given in the approximate location the aircraft had flown in the ADIZ and the closest distance from a specific location in Taiwan in nautical miles.
On Tuesday, the MND reported a drone and a Shaanxi Y-8 anti-submarine aircraft that came within 114 km (62 NM) of Eluanbi.
The new maps now show the specific Chinese air base where the military aircraft had taken off from, the model type, and the number. For example, on Tuesday, the MND reported that a total of 13 Chengdu J-10 fighter jets had been detected taking off from Jinjiang Air Base, which is located in Quanzhou in China's Fujian Province.
Balloons detected in the ADIZ are assigned a number and their route is depicted with a dotted line. The distance in nautical miles from a specific location in Taiwan when the balloon was first detected is also shown.
The sole balloon reported on Tuesday had been detected at 2:20 p.m. on Monday (Jan. 15) 233 km (125 NM) northwest of Pingtung at an altitude of 6,400 m (21,000 ft).
The MND has yet to respond to a request by Taiwan News to explain the rationale for the map formatting changes.
(MND image)