Taiwan scrambles air force to intercept Chinese fighters

Taiwan’s air force scrambled in response to 9 Chinese aircraft entering its air defense zone on Thursday, just hours after Russian forces launched an invasion of Ukraine.

According to Taiwan’s defense ministry, the incursion was carried out by eight Chinese J-16 fighters and one Y-8 reconnaissance aircraft – all of which flew in a Taiwan-controlled area to the northeast of the Pratas Islands in the South China Sea, Reuters reported.

Shortly after detecting the Chinese jets, Taiwanese fighters were sent to intercept the enemy aircraft and defense missiles were deployed to “monitor the activities,” the ministry further reported.

Officials in Taipei have been following the crisis in Ukraine with keen interest and fear that Beijing could take advantage of the situation in order to attack the island. Although Taiwanese intelligence has not yet reported any unusual movements by Chinese forces, the military has increased its alert level.

But tensions between Beijing and Taipei have been at an all-time high in recent months and such fly-overs have become increasingly common. On Jan. 23, 39 Chinese aircraft entered Taiwanese airspace – once against forcing Taiwan to scramble its defenses.

Responding to the new U.S. Indo-Pacific strategy on Thursday, Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Tan Kefei reiteratedthat Taiwan was a "core issue" for Beijing and that it would not tolerate any foreign interference.

"We urge the U.S. side to recognize the high sensitivity of the Taiwan issue, stop interfering in China's internal affairs and stop playing with fire on the Taiwan issue," Tan said.

This is a developing story...