China sends military aircraft, 3 ships around Taiwan despite typhoon Koinu alert

The People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) military aircraft and three PLAN boats were reportedly spotted

Taipei: As Typhoon Koinu’s storm encircled Taiwan between 6 am Wednesday (October 4) and 6 am Thursday (October 5), its defence ministry (MND) tracked one Chinese military aircraft and three navy vessels across the nation, Taiwan News reported.

The People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) military aircraft and three PLAN boats were reportedly spotted, according to the defence ministry.

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Taiwan’s Defence Ministry (MND)said that no graphic of the flight paths had been supplied since there had been no indication that any PLAAF aircraft had crossed the Taiwan Strait’s middle line or gotten as far as Taiwan’s Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ)’s southwest sector.

The MND said that it used its intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance apparatus to keep an eye on the situation.

It responded by dispatching navy ships, combat patrol aircraft, and land-based air defence missile systems.

Beijing has been using “grey zone tactics” more often since September 2020, such as deploying military aircraft and naval vessels beyond the middle line and within Taiwan’s ADIZ, Taiwan News reported.

Notably, Grey zone tactics are “an effort or series of efforts beyond steady-state assurance and deterrence that attempts to achieve one’s security objectives without resorting to the direct and substantial use of force.”

Typhoon Koinu on Wednesday pounded Taiwan with heavy rain and winds. This led to the closure of businesses and schools in the east and triggered warnings in most parts of the island a day before its expected landfall.

The island’s Central Weather Administration said that Koinu, which formed over the Pacific Ocean last weekend, was about 105 miles east of Taiwan on Wednesday afternoon.

It was moving west at about 9 miles per hour, carrying maximum sustained winds of 132 m.p.h. and even stronger gusts, according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center, a meteorological service operated by the US Navy.

The storm is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s southeastern coast on Thursday morning, and the island will see the heaviest rainfall on Thursday and Friday, Wu Wan-hua, a meteorologist for Taiwan’s weather agency, said at a news conference. Wave heights of more than seven meters, or 23 feet, are expected around the coasts of southern Taiwan, she added.

Koinu’s winds were equivalent to those of a Category 4 hurricane on Wednesday morning, but were expected to weaken to Category 3 levels before landfall, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center said.