Amid warning of Chinese jet threat, defense head offers reassurances

Taipei, April 24 (CNA) Defense Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng (邱國正) on Wednesday offered reassurances after a local military expert recently warned that Chinese warplanes are swelling closer to Taiwan and could reach the Presidential Office in Taipei within minutes.

The warning, issued by retired Air Force Lieutenant General Chang Yen-ting (張延廷), was based on a Ministry of National Defense (MND) chart posted on April 21 showing two Chinese fighter jets crossing the Taiwan Strait median line and reaching a point around 41 nautical miles (76 kilometers) away from Keelung.

According to Chang, that meant that a People’s Liberation Army (PLA) warplane could reach the Presidential Office within four or five minutes.

This is a problem, Chang argued, because Taiwanese warplanes need at least six minutes to take off and intercept invading PLA counterparts, and Taiwan’s military would have little time to prepare to counter such an incursion.

Before a fighter jet gets close to Taiwan’s airspace, Chang said Taiwan’s military can only continue to monitor and track down PLA warplanes with anti-air missile systems, exposing the weakness of the nation’s air-defense system, Chang added.

Asked to comment on Chang’s warning, Chiu said Wednesday that Taiwan’s military has a regular intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance system in place “exactly for the purpose of preventing the scenario from happening,” without elaborating.

He confirmed, however, that without military counterattack measures in place, “it is true that a fighter jet would reach the Presidential Office within three to five minutes [if they are 41 nautical miles (76 kilometers) from Keelung].”

Chiu was also asked about local media reports that a Chinese oceanographic survey and research ship — the Xiang Yang Hong No. 6 — was detected in waters off Hualien County on April 22.

He answered that it was not unusual for Taiwan to detect Chinese survey and research ships in waters around Taiwan, and while noting that the latest detection of a Chinese vessel “came at a sensitive time,” he said Taiwan’s Coast Guard and military have responses ready , without elaborating.

Taiwan’s military is currently holding its eight-day-long tabletop war games phase of this year’s Han Kuang series of military exercises from April 19 to 26 before the live-fire exercise component is held July 22-26.

The Han Kuang exercises, Taiwan’s major war games, have been held annually since 1984 to test Taiwan’s combat readiness in the face of a possible Chinese invasion.

The MND issues daily reports on Chinese military activities for the past few years, including identifying those Chinese aircraft, drones, and balloons that are found to have crossed the Taiwan Strait median line to the Taiwan side.

The median line of the Taiwan Strait served for decades as a tacit border between China and Taiwan, but China’s military has more freely sent aircraft, warships and drones across it since former United States House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in August 2022.