Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) fighter aircraft continue to probe Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) on a near daily basis, putting Taiwan’s air force under enormous strain, fatiguing airframes and aircrew alike. Set to this background, during a radio show on Tuesday, retired army lieutenant general Chi Lin-liang (季麟連) said that any country can fly in the skies over the Taiwan-administered Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島), which he claimed to be international airspace.
“Let them [the warplanes] come through it’s fine,” Chi said.
The Pratas Islands, situated southwest of Taiwan proper, are strategically important for their proximity to the
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers yesterday expressed outrage after a retired army general had on Tuesday implied that China has the right to fly warplanes over Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ).
Retired army lieutenant general Chi Lin-liang (季麟連), who chairs the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) Huang Fu-shin branch the party’s veteran affairs organization told a radio show that any country can fly in the skies over the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島), which he claimed to be “international airspace.”
“Let them [the warplanes] come through it’s fine,” he said.
Beijing’s military drills near Taiwan are more frequent than the
‘IT’s FINE’: Retired army lieutenant general Chi Lin-liang reportedly told a radio show that China’s military drills near Taiwan should not be considered harassmentBy Jonathan Chin / Staff writer, with CNA
By Shelley Shan / Staff reporterAlthough Tropical Storm Kompasu did not make landfall in Taiwan, heavy rain and strong winds brought by the cyclone disrupted travel on the final day of the Double Ten National Day long weekend, and caused work and school cancelations in some townships.
Taiwan must build the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) into a key position for the defense of the southwestern air defense identification zone (ADIZ), a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research said.
In an article published on the think tank’s Web site on Friday, Huang Chung-ting (黃宗鼎), an assistant research fellow at the Ministry of National Defense, wrote that when 52 Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft entered the southwestern ADIZ on Monday last week, they passed near the Pratas.
It was the largest incursion into the zone since the ministry started publicizing such information in September