Asia

Taiwan Scrambles Jets as 13 Chinese Aircraft Enter Air Defence Zone

This comes just hours after a Mirage 2000 fighter jet of the Taiwanese air force crashed into the sea during a training flight.
Sputnik
The Taiwanese air force was scrambled to ward off thirteen Chinese aircraft that entered its air defence zone, Taiwan's Defence Ministry said.
Earlier on Monday, a Taiwanese Mirage 2000 fighter crashed into the sea during a training flight, but the pilot managed to escape, the office of Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen said.
Taiwan has been governed independently from mainland China since 1949, but Beijing sees it as a breakaway province. China has repeatedly condemned US assistance to the government in Taipei as interference in the country's domestic affairs.
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Since Russia launched its special military operation in Ukraine on 24 February, speculation has increased among some Western politicians and analysts that China could undertake a similar step against Taiwan. Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi has rejected such allegations, stressing that Russia's operation to demilitarise and de-Nazify Ukraine and China's intention to peacefully unify with Taiwan "are not comparable at all".
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