MC-130 special mission aircraft flies along Taiwan Strait median line

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/10/08
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — China's declaration the median line in the Taiwan Strait does not exist was upended when Taiwanese aviation enthusiasts saw an American warplane appear to "draw" the exact location of the unofficial boundary.

On Sept. 21, Beijing suddenly decided to deny the existence of the median line in the Taiwan Strait, despite the fact there has been a tacit agreement in place not to cross the line since 1955. Since September, People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) aircraft have repeatedly crossed the median line and breached Taiwan's air defense identification zone (ADIZ).

The Facebook page of Taiwanese aircraft spotter "Southwest Airspace of TW" (台灣西南空域) at 11:19 a.m. on Thursday morning stated that an MC-130J was flying north to south along the median line. The administrator of the Facebook page, surnamed Hsu (許), made a comment below noting the placement of the flight path in between Taiwan and China and wrote "this is a little weird."

At 11:24 a.m. on Thursday, aircraft spotter CANUK78 posted a tweet stated that a US Air Force Lockheed MC-130J Commando II was flying over the Taiwan Strait. The flight path included in the tweet showed the aircraft flying right down the middle of the Taiwan Strait from north to south.    [FUILL  STORY]