‘POINTLESS’: Such missions take at least two weeks to plan, meaning it was likely meant to mark the end of the CCP’s congress, not the US’ Taiwan Travel Act, one lawmaker said
Taipei Times
Date: Mar 22, 2018
By: Sean Lin / Staff reporter
The Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning and its escort warships on Tuesday night again
Taiwan’s newly appointed defence minister, Yen De-fa, listens during the State Commission on National Defense at the Parliement in Taipei yesterday. Photo: AFP
passed through the Taiwan Strait, Minister of National Defense Yen De-fa (嚴德發) said.
Yen confirmed the reports during a question-and-answer session at a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Foreign and National Defense Committee in Taipei following questioning by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政).
However, Yen declined to comment further on the carrier’s passage, saying only that the ministry had “thoroughly monitored” the event.
The Chinese fleet entered Taiwan’s air defense identification zone at about 8pm, sailed southwest to the west of the median line of the Strait and exited the zone at about 12:30pm yesterday, the Ministry of National Defense said, adding that jets and vessels were dispatched to monitor the situation.
Meanwhile, China’s state-run tabloid the Global Times (環球時報) touted the move as Beijing’s response to US President Donald Trump’s signing of the Taiwan Travel Act on Friday last week. [FULL STORY]
