FILE PHOTO – U.S. Air Force MC-130J special operations aircraft.
According to Taiwanese media, a U.S. Air Force military aircraft crossed the Taiwan Strait on Thursday morning (Oct. 8). Some flight enthusiasts have analyzed the plane’s flight path, pointing out that the military aircraft was on a special mission: to draw a line for China, requiring it to respect the “center line” that has been held for decades on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.
The mission was carried out by a U.S. Air Force MC-130J special fighter jet. It was spotted Thursday morning as it flew over the Taiwan Sea.
A flight enthusiast called “Southwest Taiwan Airspace” gave a detailed account of the U.S. military jet’s flight on his Facebook page. At 11:19 a.m., the plane was flying north to south along the centerline of the Taiwan Sea. A page administrator named Xu also wrote, “This is a bit strange,” below the plane’s flight line.
At 11:24 a.m., an airplane enthusiast on Twitter, CANUK78, noticed the problem. The flight path attached to his tweet showed the plane flying along the centerline of the Taiwan Sea.
An aviation enthusiast named “JW Wiese” also observed the phenomenon at 1154 hours. The trajectory map provided by “JW Wiese” shows that the U.S. military aircraft made an L turn after completing the centerline and headed west.
The last name of the enthusiast, Hsu, sent out a text at 1227 hours stating that “the centerline was drawn and the mission was accomplished”. Another enthusiast joked, “Is the referee (USA) going to draw the line today?”
The MC-130J is a U.S. Air Force aircraft. It is a modification of the C-130 transport aircraft, which can be used for special missions such as airborne, transport, raids, aerial refueling, search and rescue, etc. The MC-130J is a U.S. military aircraft.
Despite accurate documentation and logical analysis by the media of the motives for the operation, the U.S. military has yet to respond to the aircraft.
Observers point out that the United States has significantly increased its military presence in the Taiwan and South China Seas in recent months, with the clear intent of stabilizing and balancing the continued expansion of Chinese military operations in these regions. But Washington is more interested in practical operations than in Beijing’s high-profile posturing. Maintaining the balance of power in the Taiwan Strait should be the primary objective of the United States.
The centerline in the Taiwan Strait is a virtual line set in the middle of the Taiwan Strait between the island of Taiwan and the Chinese mainland. It has been used since 1955 as a dividing line for ships and aircraft traveling between the two sides to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings and conflicts between the two sides. Although the government in Beijing has never officially recognized it, Chinese planes and ships have been abiding by this rule for decades.
However, on September 21, Beijing abruptly announced that it does not recognize the centerline in the Taiwan Strait, and has allowed PLA planes and ships to continue to cross the centerline to harass Taiwan. According to Taiwan’s military, 217 sorties of Chinese military aircraft have so far intruded into the air defense identification zone in southwest Taiwan, and another 49 sorties have flown over the centerline in the Taiwan Strait.
Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense said Thursday afternoon that the flights that took place in the morning were understood and “normal,” according to Taiwan News.
In August, the Taiwan government responded to tensions in the Taiwan Strait by proposing a 10.2 percent increase in the defense budget to NT$453.4 billion in the next fiscal year.
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