CAA: Japanese Jet Fighters Have Intercepted Our Civil Aircraft Since 2009

CAA: Japanese Jet Fighters Have Intercepted Our Civil Aircraft Since 2009

Sources: All Taipei newspapers

December 3, 2013

The Mainland’s declaration of an East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) continues to attract attention in the region. Some legislators questioned whether the Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) under the Ministry of Transportation and Communication had diminished the nation’s dignity by submitting civil flight plans overflying the Mainland’s ADIZ in the East China Sea to the Mainland. CAA Director-General Jean Shen (沈啟) told the Legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee that the CAA considered flight safety as its first priority.

Shen disclosed that even though the CAA had submitted our civil flight plans to Japan in advance, Japanese jet fighters interfered with, or even intercepted, our civil aircraft over the two countries’ overlapping ADIZs on at least 41 occasions between 2009 and 2012.

Shen stressed that the fact that Japanese jet fighters intercepted Taiwan’s passenger planes was a sufficient ground to explain our safety concerns even though the CAA had already submitted flight plans to the Japanese aviation authorities, so if we had not submitted flight plans, who could predict what would have happened.

When direct flights across the Taiwan Strait were launched in 2008, the CAA designated a cross-Strait northern flight route, No. B591, for civil flights from Taipei to Beijing, Shandong Province, and Northeast China. This flight route is within the Taipei flight information zone, but it passes through Japan’s ADIZ, which overlaps with certain areas of our ADIZ.

Shen stated that even though the CAA had submitted flight plans to Japan in advance, Japan’s Air Self-Defense Force consistently jammed our passenger planes’ communication signals. Shen explained that the CAA had called on the Ministry of Transportation and Communication and the Foreign Ministry to request that the Association of East Asian Relations (亞東關係協會) (AEAR) lodge a solemn protest with Japan, but the Japanese military continued to intercept our aircraft. The AERA is the organization under the Foreign Ministry in charge of dealing with Japan in the absence of formal diplomatic ties.

DPP legislator Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) criticized the CAA head for being out of touch. He said that Shen was not only unable to handle the situation, but also might have damaged Taiwan-Japan relations, thus causing substantive harm to the country. Tsai demanded that she apologize and step down for dereliction of duty and disqualification of herself.

【Editor’s Note: It was most unfortunate that DPP legislator Tsai Huang-liang had made such improper remarks in LY in total disregard for the nation’s dignity. We are afraid that he will make himself the laughingstock in the international community.】

Attachment : none