China objects after Two US F-18s make emergency landing in Taiwan

Asia-Pacific, News, US April 2, 2015 , by IRIA No Comments

China protested today after two American F-18 jet fighters landed at an air base in Taiwan, which Beijing regards as its own territory, reportedly for the first time in 30 years.

Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense confirmed on Wednesday that the two U.S. F-18 fighter jets made emergency landings at Tainan Airport after one of the planes encountered mechanical problems.

“We have launched solemn representations with the US,” Hua Chunying, a foreign ministry spokeswoman, told a regular briefing in Beijing.

“We require the US to abide by the ‘One-China Policy’ and the three joint communiques between China and the US and to prudently deal with the relevant issue,” she added, referring to agreements between the two that recognize Beijing as the sole government of China.

Taiwanese media described the landing as the first of its kind since the mid-1980s and speculated that it could have been a US reaction to an unprecedented People’s Liberation Army Air Force exercise over the western Pacific Ocean east of Taiwan.

“While this landing was unplanned and occurred exclusively out of mechanical necessity, it reflects well on Taiwan that they permitted pilots in distress to land safely,” said U.S. Pentagon spokeswoman Henrietta Levin.

The landing was a rare incident because the United States does not have formal diplomatic relations withTaiwan, and its military aircraft do not use air bases in Taiwan.

Mark Zimmer, spokesman for the American Institute in Taiwan – the de facto US embassy – said the planes had been on a “routine flight” when one encountered a mechanical problem and requested an emergency landing.

The incident “again highlights the close ties between Taiwan and the United States,” according to Taiwanese MP and military expert Lin Yu-fang of the ruling Kuomintang party, who sits on the parliament’s diplomacy and defence committee.

The two planes were flying over waters east of Taiwan escorting an EA-6B Prowler, an electronic warfare aircraft, on its way to the Philippines, he said, citing government sources.

While Taiwan and China have signed a series of landmark trade and economic agreements since 2008, political and military suspicions still run deep, especially in democratic Taiwan