The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force recently expelled foreign aircraft threatening China's territorial airspace with J-20 fighter jets, giving full play to the aircraft's stealth capability. Experts said on Tuesday that PLA forces are well-equipped and well-trained in dealing with all sorts of threats.
As the first combat unit of the PLA Air Force that is fully equipped with J-20 fighter jets, the Wang Hai Air Group under a brigade of the PLA Eastern Theater Command carried out missions that safeguard China's national sovereignty and territorial integrity, including combat alert patrols in the East China Sea and the Taiwan Straits, China Central Television (CCTV) reported on Tuesday.
In an emergency sortie mission, the leader of the air group Yang Juncheng and pilot Wei Xin took off with two J-20 fighter jets to intercept two foreign aircraft. The two closely coordinated, took advantageous positions and resolutely safeguarded China's airspace security, CCTV reported.
"The J-20's stealth capability is its biggest advantage. It means that the enemy radar can see nothing, but we can already launch attacks," Wei told CCTV.
"You can imagine how much psychological pressure the enemies would have. They can only take hasty evasive maneuvers to avoid our threats. If we push forward, they would fall back," Wei said.
With an outstanding combat history of downing and damaging 29 hostile aircraft in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea (1950-53), the Wang Hai Air Group has recently completed key missions including the routine management of control of the East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone, combat alert patrols in the South China Sea, and patrols around the island of Taiwan, flying across the Bashi Channel, the Miyako Strait and the Tsushima Strait in the process, according to CCTV.
"When I look down on the motherland's precious island [of Taiwan] from the cockpit of my warplane, I could clearly see the island's entire coastline and mountain range," Yang was quoted by CCTV as saying.
"I told myself at the time, I will come again, as [the island of Taiwan] is our country's territory, and [the Taiwan Straits] have no line [dividing us]," Yang said.
The defense authority on the island of Taiwan releases its monitoring of PLA aircraft activities around the island on a daily basis, but it had failed to report a spotting of a stealth-capable J-20 as of press time.
A brigade under the PLA Western Theater Command, which is the first unit to receive delivery of the J-16 fighter jet, also carried out combat alert patrol missions that saw foreign warplanes expelled.
In a recent nighttime patrol, pilot Li Chao was approached by two foreign fighter jets. Li had to break away from the pursuit by shutting off all active electronic devices and flying low, before closing in on one of the foreign aircraft from its tail, gaining the upper hand, CCTV reported on Saturday.
Equipped with advanced warplanes of different types and well trained, PLA units deployed across the country are ready at all times to take measures against unidentified aircraft flying into their watch, including expelling such planes when necessary, Fu Qianshao, a Chinese military aviation expert, told the Global Times on Tuesday.
Volker Turk has warned that efforts to advance reparatory justice are facing resistance in “certain quarters,” and urged countries to back Africa’s push.
Reparatory justice for historical crimes, including colonialism, enslavement, and the trade in enslaved Africans, is crucial to dismantling systemic racism, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk has said.
Speaking at the UN Permanent Forum on People of African Descent on Tuesday, Turk linked present-day discrimination against people from the continent to the enduring legacy of colonialism and enslavement.
”Racism and dehumanizing rhetoric continue to permeate public institutions, communities, and online platforms,” he said, according to the UN Press Service. Turk noted that “digital technologies, including AI, are reproducing and amplifying existing biases against people of African descent.”
The remarks come weeks after the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution declaring the transatlantic slave trade “the gravest...
The US VP had to defend President Trump’s Gaza policy at a rally on a Georgia college campus.
US Vice President J.D. Vance was forced to defend Washington’s policy in Gaza after he was booed and heckled at a key MAGA event on Wednesday.
Co-founded by the late Charlie Kirk, Turning Point USA (TPUSA) is a conservative student group that has long been seen as a strong support base of President Donald Trump’s MAGA movement but is now showing apparent cracks.
Less than 15 minutes into a TPUSA event at the University of Georgia on Wednesday, Vance was interrupted by hecklers over US policy in Gaza, with one audience member shouting, “Jesus Christ does not support genocide!” As he attempted to respond, others shouted, “You’re killing children!” and “You’re bombing children!”
Vance replied by referring to Trump’s achievements as president, including securing a fragile ceasefire in Gaza, something he said the previous administration of Joe Biden failed to do.
“I ...
Sergey Shoigu has cautioned Finland and the Baltic states against allowing Kiev to use their airspace for attacks on Russia.
Russia would have the right to retaliate if Finland and the Baltic states are deliberately allowing Ukrainian drones to pass through their airspace, Security Council Secretary Sergey Shoigu said on Thursday.
“Recently, there has been an increase in Ukrainian drone strikes against Russia via Finland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia,” Shoigu told journalists. “As a result, civilians are suffering and significant damage is being caused to civilian infrastructure.”
Either Western air defenses are proving ineffective, or these four countries “deliberately provide their airspace, thereby becoming open accomplices in aggression against Russia,” he added. In the latter case, Moscow has the right to self-defense in response to an “armed attack” under Article 51 of the UN Charter, the security chief stressed.
In recent weeks, Kiev has intensified drone strikes on ...
