Taiwan Reports Second Large-Scale China Air Force Incursion This Week

A Taiwanese soldier holds a Taiwan national flag near a group of soldiers with red markings on their helmets to play the role of an enemy during the annual Han Kuang military exercises simulating an attack on an airfield at Taoyuan International Airport in Taoyuan, Northern Taiwan, Wednesday, July 26, 2023. (AP)
A Taiwanese soldier holds a Taiwan national flag near a group of soldiers with red markings on their helmets to play the role of an enemy during the annual Han Kuang military exercises simulating an attack on an airfield at Taoyuan International Airport in Taoyuan, Northern Taiwan, Wednesday, July 26, 2023. (AP)
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Taiwan Reports Second Large-Scale China Air Force Incursion This Week

A Taiwanese soldier holds a Taiwan national flag near a group of soldiers with red markings on their helmets to play the role of an enemy during the annual Han Kuang military exercises simulating an attack on an airfield at Taoyuan International Airport in Taoyuan, Northern Taiwan, Wednesday, July 26, 2023. (AP)
A Taiwanese soldier holds a Taiwan national flag near a group of soldiers with red markings on their helmets to play the role of an enemy during the annual Han Kuang military exercises simulating an attack on an airfield at Taoyuan International Airport in Taoyuan, Northern Taiwan, Wednesday, July 26, 2023. (AP)

Ten Chinese air force aircraft entered Taiwan's air defense zone on Wednesday accompanying five Chinese warships engaged in "combat readiness" patrols, the island's defense ministry said, the second such incursion this week.

Taiwan, which China claims as its territory, has repeatedly complained of Chinese military activity near it over the past three years, as Beijing steps up pressure to try to force the island to accept its sovereignty.

Taiwan's defense ministry said that starting at around 9 a.m. (0100 GMT), it detected a total of 25 Chinese aircraft engaging in operations out at sea, including J-10 and J-16 fighters, as well as H-6 bombers.

Of those aircraft, the ministry said 10 had either crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait, which previously served as an unofficial barrier between the two sides, or entered the southwestern part of Taiwan's air defense identification zone, or ADIZ.

Those aircraft were acting in coordination with five Chinese warships engaging in "combat readiness" patrols, it said.

Taiwan's military dispatched ships and aircraft to keep watch, the ministry said.

The ADIZ is a broad area Taiwan monitors and patrols to give its forces more time to respond to threats, and Chinese aircraft have not entered territorial Taiwanese air space.

On Sunday, Taiwan reported a similar level of activity by Chinese warplanes and warships near the island.

China staged war games around Taiwan in April after President Tsai Ing-wen returned home from a visit to the United States where she met US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

Last August, it also held war games around Taiwan to protest against a trip to Taipei by then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Taiwan Vice President William Lai leaves for the United States this week on his way to Paraguay on what is officially only a transit but which has angered China.

It was China's "priority" to stop Lai from visiting the United States, Beijing's ambassador to the US said last month.

Taiwan's democratically elected government rejects China's sovereignty claim and says only the island's people can decide their future.



Lawyer: South Korea's Yoon to Accept Court Decision Even if it Ends Presidency

Yoon Kab-keun, lawyer for South Korea's impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol, attends a press conference in Seoul on January 9, 2025. (Photo by JUNG YEON-JE / AFP)
Yoon Kab-keun, lawyer for South Korea's impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol, attends a press conference in Seoul on January 9, 2025. (Photo by JUNG YEON-JE / AFP)
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Lawyer: South Korea's Yoon to Accept Court Decision Even if it Ends Presidency

Yoon Kab-keun, lawyer for South Korea's impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol, attends a press conference in Seoul on January 9, 2025. (Photo by JUNG YEON-JE / AFP)
Yoon Kab-keun, lawyer for South Korea's impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol, attends a press conference in Seoul on January 9, 2025. (Photo by JUNG YEON-JE / AFP)

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol will accept the decision of the Constitutional Court that is trying parliament's impeachment case against him, even if it decides to remove the suspended leader from office, his lawyer said on Thursday.
"So if the decision is 'removal', it cannot but be accepted," Yoon Kab-keun, the lawyer for Yoon, told a news conference, when asked if Yoon would accept whatever the outcome of trial was.
Yoon has earlier defied the court's requests to submit legal briefs before the court began its hearing on Dec. 27, but his lawyers have said he was willing to appear in person to argue his case.
The suspended president has defied repeated summons in a separate criminal investigation into allegations he masterminded insurrection with his Dec. 3 martial law bid.
Yoon, the lawyer, said the president is currently at his official residence and appeared healthy, amid speculation over the suspended leader's whereabouts.
Presidential security guards resisted an initial effort to arrest Yoon last week though he faces another attempt after a top investigator vowed to do whatever it takes to break a security blockade and take in the embattled leader.
Seok Dong-hyeon, another lawyer advising Yoon, said Yoon viewed the attempts to arrest him as politically motivated and aimed at humiliating him by bringing him out in public wearing handcuffs.