CHINA: Beijing Warns Off US Warship From South China Sea & Two Chinese Turboprops Enter Taiwan’s ADIZ
Beijing warns off US warship from South China Sea islands, says its ‘serious violation of sovereignty’
China on Friday warned off a US warship sailing near contested islands in the South China Sea, Beijing said, the first such encounter made public since the inauguration of President Joe Biden.
The USS John S. McCain “broke into China’s Xisha territorial waters without the permission of the Chinese government,” Beijing’s military said in a statement, using its name for the disputed Paracel Islands.
The People’s Liberation Army “organized naval and air forces to track, monitor and warn off” the warship, the Chinese military said, blasting the US for “seriously violating China’s sovereignty” and “harming regional peace.”
Washington has argued that such exercises are in line with international law and help defend right of passage through the region amid competing claims by China and other governments.
China lays claim to nearly all of the South China Sea, including the Paracel Islands.
Two Chinese Turboprops Enter Taiwan’s ADIZ
Taiwan sent fighter jets, broadcast radio warnings, deployed air defense missile systems to track PLAAF planes.
Two Chinese military aircraft entered Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) on Thursday (Feb. 4), marking the third such incident this month.
One People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) Y-8 electronic intelligence aircraft and a Y-8 reconnaissance plane flew into the southwest corner of Taiwan’s ADIZ, according to the Ministry of National Defense (MND). In response, the Taiwanese military scrambled fighter jets, issued radio warnings, and deployed air defense missile systems to track the two planes.
WATCH: ‘This has all the hallmarks of the world’s next major military drama’
There is something unfolding which has “all the hallmarks of the world’s next major military drama,” says Sky News host Chris Smith. “Well what a week it’s been for this standoff between China and Taiwan, which we cannot ignore, and neither can the United States,” Mr Smith said.
“From the week Joe Biden was inaugurated, Beijing has ratcheted up their claim to territory in the South China Sea, and of course Taiwan, beyond what we’ve ever seen since they split”.
WATCH:
Geez, getting rid of Trump was such a great idea.