Taiwan scrambled fighter jets this week to shadow Chinese military aircraft that had entered its aerial defence zone, just days after the Pentagon accused China of “dangerously” intercepting a US spy plane.
The Taiwanese military dispatched fighters twice on Monday when Chinese Y-8 spy aircraft entered its air defence identification zone, an early-warning area known as an ADIZ. China, which regards Taiwan as a renegade province, dismissed the issue by saying its aircraft were on “routine” flights.
Beijing last week rejected Washington’s claims that a Chinese fighter jet had dangerously buzzed a US spy plane that was conducting surveillance flights in international air space 200km from the southern Chinese island of Hainan.