Archived

[…]

In the first incident, a [Chinese] J-16 jet shot decoy flares at a Taiwanese F-16 which had scrambled as the Chinese warplane was about to cross the Taiwan Strait median line, said three people familiar with the encounter.

In the second, a Chinese J-16 flew “very closely” behind a Taiwanese F-16 jet “basically in firing position”, said the person briefed on the incident.

The unprecedented actions did not rise to the level of danger reached when PLA aircraft locked their weapons radar on to Japanese aircraft earlier in December, said three people familiar with the incidents.

But another person familiar with the situation disputed that view. He said the PLA fighter that locked its radar on the Japanese plane was operating from a much greater distance than the J-16 was from the F-16 when it fired flares.

[…]

Two people compared the first incident to a separate dangerous episode in December when a Chinese aircraft fired flares at Philippine patrol aircraft over the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea.

In a third incident that occurred north-west of Taiwan, a Chinese J-16 flew just underneath a Chinese H-6K bomber, in a “piggybacking” tactic designed to disguise the presence of the fighter jet from Taiwanese radars.

[…]

Bonnie Glaser, a China expert at the German Marshall Fund, said the PLA was becoming “increasingly reckless” as it stepped up the pressure on Taiwan. “The next likely step in the escalation ladder is PLA aircraft operating inside Taiwan’s 12 nautical miles territorial airspace, which would further heighten the risk of an accident.”

[…]