China scrambles fighter jets to intercept US P-8A aircraft

Spokesman for the Eastern Theater Command of the People's Liberation Army of China (PLA), Senior Colonel Li Xi has said that the PLA scrambled fighter jets to monitor a US Navy P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft that flew over the Taiwan Strait.

"On September 17, a US P-8A anti-submarine patrol aircraft deliberately flew over the Taiwan Strait. The PLA's Eastern Theater Command deployed fighter jets to track and monitor the movement of the US aircraft, taking actions in accordance with laws and regulations. The armed forces in the region remain on high alert, resolutely defending national sovereignty and security, as well as regional peace and stability," the statement says, Caliber.Az reports, citing Russian media.

The Chinese People's Liberation Army has five Theater Commands, namely the Eastern Theater Command, the Southern Theater Command, the Western Theater Command, the Northern Theater Command and the Central Theater Command.

The People's Liberation Army's Eastern Theater Command has recently carried out combat exercises in the Taiwan Straits and surrounding waters to verify and boost its interservice joint operation capability. 

The PLA Eastern Theater Command continued conducting drills on sea assaults, land strikes, air defence and anti-submarine in the airspace and waters to the north and south of Taiwan Island, in a bid to test the multi-domain coordination and joint strike capabilities of the theater command's troops.