Jets from Taiwan's air force recently rushed to intercept Chinese People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) fighters flying over international waters in the Taiwan Strait.
According to a spokesperson for the Taiwanese Defense Ministry, several PLAAF J-11 fighter jets and KJ-500 airborne early warning aircraft carried out the service's first “night flight training” Monday evening over the waters southwest of Taiwan.
The Chinese Communist Party-owned Global Times reported on Wednesday that the exercises showed the PLA “is fully capable of launching military operations on the island at any time of a day” and noted that similar drills can be expected in the future “in order to let Taiwan secessionists get a clear idea of the power gap between the mainland and the island.”
Alexander Huang Chieh Cheng, a professor of international affairs and strategic studies at Taipei's Tamkang University, told the South China Morning Post, “In addition to enhancing all-weather capability of its military fleet, the communist warplanes' fly-by is aimed at sending out the message that it is business as usual with PLA war games despite the coronavirus outbreak in mainland China.”
Lin Yingyou, an assistant professor at the Institute of Strategy and International Affairs of the National Chung Cheng University in Taiwan, told Taiwan Central News Agency on Tuesday that the drill demonstrated to the…
