Taipei, December 4 (ANI) — Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defence (MND) said it recorded eight sorties by People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft and five People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) vessels operating around its territory up to 6 a.m. (UTC+8) on Thursday. Two of the eight sorties crossed the median line and entered Taiwan’s southwestern Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ), the MND said on X, adding that ROC Armed Forces monitored the situation and responded.
On Wednesday, the MND detected 10 PLA aircraft, six PLAN vessels and two official ships operating around Taiwan, noting that four of the 10 sorties crossed the median line into Taiwan’s northern ADIZ. On Tuesday, Taiwan recorded nine sorties of Chinese military aircraft, eight naval vessels and two official ships; one sortie entered Taiwan’s eastern ADIZ.
Separately, former U.S. defense official Ely Ratner, who served as assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific security affairs from 2021 until this year, voiced support for Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi after her remarks suggesting Japan might help defend Taiwan. Ratner called Beijing’s reaction “inappropriate,” the Taipei Times reported. On November 7, Takaichi said during a parliamentary meeting that a Chinese assault on Taiwan could be “a situation threatening Japan’s survival,” potentially leading to military action — a position seen as the most explicit by a Japanese leader in decades regarding possible involvement in a Taiwan crisis.
Takaichi’s comments drew anger from China, which enacted retaliatory measures including travel and study warnings and suspending the resumption of Japanese seafood imports. Xue Jian, China’s consul general in Osaka, posted a now-deleted remark saying Takaichi should be “decapitated.” (ANI)
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