Global Courant 2023-04-28 07:52:53
TAIPEI — A new type of Chinese combat drone that, according to Chinese state media, can carry a heavy load of weapons has flown around Taiwan, the island’s defense ministry said Friday, in the latest uptick in military tensions.
China, which views democratically-governed Taiwan as its own territory, has increased military pressure on the island over the past three years to force Taipei to accept Beijing’s claims of sovereignty.
In April, China staged war games around Taiwan after Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen met with Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy in Los Angeles.
Taiwan’s defense ministry said in its daily update of China’s military activities over the past 24 hours that 19 military aircraft had entered the island’s air defense identification zone.
One of those aircraft was a TB-001 drone, which flew around Taiwan, first crossing the Bashi Channel that separates Taiwan from the Philippines, then to eastern Taiwan before returning to China’s coast, according to a map released by the ministry. .
Chinese state media have referred to the TB-001 as the “two-tailed scorpion” and have shown pictures of it with missiles under its wings, saying it is capable of long-range, high-altitude missions.
The Chinese Air Force has conducted so-called “island encirclement” missions with the nuclear-capable H-6 bomber.
No shots were fired and no Chinese aircraft flew into Taiwan’s airspace.
The Air Defense Identification Zone, or ADIZ, is a wider area that Taiwan monitors and patrols to give its armed forces more time to respond to threats.
Chinese military aircraft have regularly crossed the centerline of the Taiwan Strait since 2022, which normally serves as an unofficial barrier between the two sides, though China says it does not acknowledge this.
Taiwan’s government rejects China’s claims of sovereignty, saying only the island’s people can decide their future. REUTERS
