Taiwan sees second Chinese air incursion as US agrees arms sale

Al Jazeera:

Taiwan has reported a large-scale Chinese air force incursion into its air defence zone for a second day running, just as the United States approved the potential sale of $619m in weapons to the island – including hi-tech missiles for Taiwan’s F-16 fighter jets.

Taiwan’s defence ministry said a total of 21 Chinese combat planes – 17 Chengdu J-10 multirole fighters and four advanced Shenyang J-16 strike fighters – had flown into the southwestern corner of the island’s air defence identification zone (ADIZ) on Thursday.

The J-10s, an older fighter model that first entered service 20 years ago, flew closer to the Chinese coast than Taiwan’s, while the J-16s, a much newer and more advanced fighter, flew in an area to the northeast of the Taiwan-controlled Pratas Islands, according to a map of the incident released by the ministry.