Taiwan’s military claims China's PLA 'invaded' sovereign space, fires flare at Chinese jet

As the Eastern Theater Command of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) began the live-fire military exercises encircling self-ruled Taiwan from at least the six coastal zones, Taiwan's Defense Ministry on Wednesday claimed that China's PLA violated United Nations protocol as it "invaded island's sovereign airspace shortly after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s departure. Taiwan's military forces fired flares at what would have been a Chinese PLA Air Force fighter aircraft or a drone that encroached its airspace and flew had flown into the disputed and heavily-fortified Kinmen islands, known as Quemoy island to the Republic of China. 

A Taiwanese defence ministry official labelled the Chinese PLA's military belligerence as 'amounting to total sea and air blockade of Taiwan'.

Chinese PLA encircles six identified zones surrounding island nation

Beijing's Navy, Air Force, Rocket Force, Strategic Support Force and Logistic Support Force under the Eastern Theater Command hovered to the six identified zones surrounding the island nation completely and are now holding drills that overlap with Taiwanese territorial waters. As the Chinese drones flew over the Kinmen Islands in an act of belligerence, they were repelled by flares launched from the Taiwanese military side as tensions soared. Chinese state media reported that PLA will conduct live-fire drills that got underway at 9:30 am Thursday, Indian Standard Time (IST) or noon local time (04:00 GMT). The military drill will continue until August 7.

In defiance of the United States House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's diplomatic visit, Beijing has begun training sessions that include sea blockade, sea target assault, strike on ground targets, airspace control operation, and has been testing the joint combat capabilities and readiness of its troops in island's 12-nautical-mile sea and air territory. Taiwanese Army Major General Chang Zone-sung reportedly informed that the Chinese drones have violated the island's sovereign airspace at least twice already and that his military "immediately fired flares" to issue warnings and deter them from the restricted area in accordance with the standard operating procedure.

Zone-sung stressed that the Chinese drones were spotted gathering intelligence, mirroring another recent fly-over near the 36 islands Matsu archipelago in the East China Sea. Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party labelled China's military incursions as "irresponsible and illegitimate" behaviour. Chinese naval vessels and fighter jets encroached the Taiwan Strait Median Line multiple times since the drills kick-started. Chinese PLA will be displaying the “advanced weaponry" including the hypersonic DF-17 missiles as a warning to Taiwan that stressed, “We seek no escalation, but we don’t stand down when it comes to our security and sovereignty."