China viola el espacio aéreo taiwanés y se despachan cazas

Taiwan Fighters Chase China Jets a Week After U.S. Incident 
By Adela Lin - Bloomberg



Taiwan's indigenous defense fighter (IDF) flies over Tainan Air Force base in Tainan, Taiwan.

Taiwan sent fighter jets to tail two Chinese military planes that entered the island’s air space, a week after a close encounter between a U.S. and Chinese jet.

“We responded immediately, asking them to leave,” Taiwan defense minister Yen Ming said yesterday in Taipei. Fighter jets were dispatched to warn the Chinese surveillance aircraft, each of which entered Taiwan airspace twice on Aug. 25, to leave, David Lo, spokesman for the Ministry of National Defense, said by phone today.

Tensions remain between China and Taiwan even as economic relations have strengthened since Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou took office in 2008. The two sides have been governed separately since China’s Nationalist government fled across the Taiwan Strait to the island during a civil war with Communist forces. China still claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has indicated it will take it back by force if necessary.

As China increases its economic and military muscle, encounters with other nations’ militaries have been on the rise. U.S. aircraft had at least two previous run-ins with Chinese jets this year prior to last week’s encounter, and Japanese and Chinese planes and ships regularly tail one another around disputed islands in the East China Sea.