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ROC military targeted cross-strait flights, says Chinese language media
(China Post Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)The Ministry of National Defense (MND) reportedly held military exercises last week and Chinese media reports yesterday suggested that they used the cross-strait charter flights as targets.
While the MND admitted that it has been carrying out drills at the same time as the cross-strait flights got underway, it denied that the commercial aircraft were in anyway involved. The exercises reportedly occurred on Wednesday, the day the first Taipei-Xiamen direct flights commenced.
The reports said that the ROC Air Force engaged in exercises that became known as the "Lien Hsiang" drills last week. Chinese-language United Daily News had suggested that the Air Force was using the arriving commercial jets as practice targets as though they were part of an attack from China.
The article added that Taiwanese fighter jets simulated launching air-to-air strikes at the commercial flights in an exercise drill in which Chinese planes were suspected of carrying biological weapons to be used on Taiwan.
"We can't taken any chances," an unidentified defense official had been quoted as saying regarding the drill. "National security and defense units must prepare for the possibility that anything can happen."
However, MND officials have denied involving the charter flights and denounced the media for making the inference. A statement from the Office of the Military Spokesman called the reports "not based on fact" and said they were "misleading the public." Lieutenant Colonel Henry Liu called it "impossible" that the military would engage in any of the activities the media suggested.
"The ROC Navy or Air Force would never target commercial airplanes or aircraft that belong to civilian companies," he said. "There are regulations we must follow."
Liu added that the exercises were purely routine.
"All branches of the military - the Army, Navy and Air Force - hold such exercises during these critical periods," Liu explained. "During times such as busy elections, Double 10, and Chinese New Years, its important for us to have these drills. We are on alert for the entire holiday."
Last week's exercises, the MND said, was to practice for possible aerial attack and was scheduled long before the cross-strait flights were announced. They also noted that the defense ministry has been working closely with the Mainland Affairs Council and Civil Aeronautical Administration regarding the charter flights.
The military reportedly used F-16 and Mirage fighter jets for the simulation.
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