DEFENSE/14 PLA aircraft detected in Taiwan's ADIZ: Defense ministry

Taipei, April 11 (CNA) A total of 14 People's Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft were detected in Taiwan's air defense identification zone (ADIZ) in the 24-hour period starting at 6 a.m. Wednesday, the Ministry of National Defense said Thursday.

Of those aircraft, six crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait and entered Taiwan's southwestern or eastern airspace, flight paths released by the ministry showed.

An unspecified number of aircraft flew as close as 46 nautical miles off Eluanbi, Taiwan's southernmost tip, as shown by the flight paths.

An ADIZ is a self-declared area in which a country claims the right to identify, locate and control approaching foreign aircraft but is not part of its territorial airspace as defined by international law.

Meanwhile, six PLA Navy vessels were also detected in the waters off Taiwan, the ministry said.

The ministry said it deployed combat air patrol aircraft, vessels and coastal missile defense systems in response.

The ministry canceled its practice of identifying the types of PLA aircraft detected in Taiwan's ADIZ on Jan. 16.

Considering the changing security situation and threats, identifying the types of PLA aircraft could play into the hands of China, which could then exploit this information to wage cognitive warfare against the public in Taiwan, military spokesman Major General Sun Li-fang (孫立方) said at the time.